CPSU – Morrisons Finance Combination a Danger

FINANCE COMBINATION A DANGER AS NEW MINISTRY ELEVATES PUBLIC SERVICE
AUG 27, 2018

The CPSU has warned of dire consequences if the Coalition Government’s new ministerial structure signals further cuts to the Australian Public Service.

The Public Service has been elevated to a Cabinet position in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s new Ministry, but in a combined portfolio with Finance for Minister Mathias Cormann.

CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said: “Three Liberal Prime Ministers in less than three years is obviously unhelpful for the Australian Public Service and its critical role providing essential public services and frank and fearless policy advice, just as this level of instability is bad news for the entire community.”

• “Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s new Ministry gives us little reassurance that he will abandon the disastrous policies that led to Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott’s downfalls. The real problem is not the Coalition’s leadership but its destructive ideology, which has driven disastrous cuts to public sector jobs, capacity, public services, wages and working rights.”
• “Elevating the Public Service to Cabinet is a good decision, given that a strong Public Service is at the heart of good government, but it’s deeply worrying to see the APS in a combined portfolio with Finance, the ministry charged with finding cuts and savings. Minister Mathias Cormann must focus on public services and policy capacity rather than further hamstringing the Government with yet more short-sighted cuts or further privatisation and outsourcing.”
• “Minister Cormann’s predecessor in the role, Kelly O’Dwyer, has now taken on Jobs and Industrial Relations. Both ministers would do well to sit down and consider the disastrous impact the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has had on public service jobs and industrial relations through their own actions, setting a terrible example for the rest of the country and causing real harm to public sector workers and the agencies they work for.”
• “It is positive to see Minister Peter Dutton relieved of some of his responsibilities as Home Affairs and Immigration are split back into two portfolios, given the deep problems in the Department of Home Affairs at the previous combination of enforcement, facilitation and policy under one mega-ministry.”
• “We believe this is a strong opportunity to change not just perceptions but policy, starting with ditching the Government’s disastrous plan to sell off our visa processing system to corporations. Immigration should be a portfolio to promote the critical role of multiculturalism in Australia’s economic and cultural development, rather than being used as a dog whistle for prejudice as has often been the case under this Government.”