The reckless plan by Peter Dutton and his local LNP MPs to cut 1 in 5 jobs from the federal public service will leave Sunshine Coast workers and services worse off.

The Australian Public Service Employment Database (APSED) shows 445 Sunshine Coast locals are employed by the Australian Public Service (APS), living and working here.

Keeping these jobs locally is putting money into the local economy, helping people to pay their bills and providing access to important services.

Since 2022 the Albanese Government has added around 130 extra APS roles across the Sunshine Coast, and we don’t want to see service delivery go backwards, and more locals join the employment queue.

Even after trying to shut down concern over his job cuts policy, Peter Dutton and his colleagues have confirmed the cuts will go ahead:

7/04 – Shadow Minister for Finance, Jane Hume: “We will reduce the size of the public service by 41,000, and we'll do that over five years.” “We had always planned to sensibly reduce the size of the public service over time.”

7/04 – Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton: “that was always the plan that there would be natural attrition and a hiring freeze and that achieved over a four or five year period, the number that we needed.”

7/04 - Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor: “We haven't dumped the key policy of making sure government is the right size in this country... What we've said is we need to get the public service to the size it was when we were last in government.”

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Queensland Senator Murray Watt said whether the job cuts are imposed overnight, or through natural attrition, a smaller workforce will mean less jobs on the SC, and slower service delivery for locals.

“When we were elected in 2022, the Coalition left behind a backlog of 42,000 veterans’ claims that they didn’t process, despite spending over $20 billion a year bringing in consultants and labour hire staff,” Minister Watt said.

“By properly resourcing the public sector we’ve now cleared that backlog.

“The public service does more than answer phones – they work at our airports protecting our borders and keeping the country safe from biosecurity risks, they coordinate ADF assistance in natural disasters and they process much-needed NDIS plans, aged pensions and other claims.

“Peter Dutton is blindly committed to cutting these 41,000 Australian jobs because he needs the cash to pay for his $600 billion nuclear fantasy.

“The Sunshine Coast’s Liberal MPs Ted O’Brien and Andrew Wallace must stand up to their boss and defend these thousands of local jobs.

“A re-elected Albanese Government will not risk local services and local jobs to prop up other policies.”

Assistant Minister for Regional Development, and Senator for Queensland Anthony Chisholm said the threat of job cuts for the thousands of APS workers based in Queensland’s regions looms large.

“Peter Dutton may have changed his rhetoric and tried to backflip on this, but we all know he hasn’t changed his plans for cuts to the APS and it’s all at risk if he becomes Prime Minister.

“I was in Hervey Bay after the recent floods, and I saw how hard our APS staff were working to get assistance out to those in need. Australian public servants do incredible work in our regions, they deserve more respect from the alternative party of government.”

Labor Senate Candidate for Queensland, Corinne Mulholland echoed Senators Watt and Chisholm’s comments adding that despite recent backtracking, the LNP’s cuts plan for the APS is all on the record.

“Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech was only a couple weeks ago, and it made his thoughts on our hardworking public servants clear.”

“Only Labor will continue to invest in the APS and stand up for the thousands of public servants across Queensland.”