- The Guardian
- Issue #2136
H Launton
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) rank-and-file group Voice For Members held a rally opposing the ALP Allan government announcement of a “review” and “2,000-3,000 cuts” to the Victorian Public Service (VPS) on 4 March. During a sitting of Victorian parliament a hundred people gathered outside to protest this move. Speakers held forth on previous cuts to the VPS in 2014, 2019, and 2024 as well as a raft of ‘section 11s,’ which is when a given department is restructured. One speaker has endured four S11s in 10 years of service.
It was noted that if LNP are elected there are 36,000 job cuts slated for the Australian Public Service (APS). This amounts to one fifth of the workforce. It is not credible that these people are all doing useless jobs, especially as this type of announcement is not attached to a review of the service – it is an ideological statement. If the LNP implement it, it will amount to more engagement with consultants and more public money going to the private sector, as happened with the previous Liberal-National Coalition federal government which spent billions on consultants to keep their ‘small government’ going.
The group who called the rally are running a challenge against CPSU leadership in upcoming Branch Council elections. Their next effort is training on how to run in union elections hosted by Labor Notes.
Speakers noted that it is possible to push back against cuts to the public service. It requires an organised workforce (service providers) operating with community support (service users).
The final speaker was a nurse who said that it was not believable that the Allan government was going to use the so-called savings from cutting jobs to invest in front-line services as nurses had to strike in 2024 to get an investment in the front-line services, otherwise known as nursing jobs.
