An opposition’s plan to stop hiring bureaucrats for a decade has drawn battle lines ahead of a high-stakes state election.
In her first substantive reply to Tuesday’s Victorian budget, Opposition Leader and shadow treasurer Jess Wilson on Friday unveiled a 10-year public service hiring freeze.
Under the pitch for the November state election, Victoria’s public service would be slashed by 7184 full-time equivalent staff in the first two and a half years of a coalition government.
The freeze would target back-office roles across 46 Victorian government departments and agencies and is expected to save $22 billion over 10 years.
Ms Wilson said falling staff numbers would be achieved through natural attrition and there would be no cuts to police, nurses, teachers, health care workers, firefighters and other essential services.
“No one is getting sacked,” Ms Wilson said in her speech.
“So I say to our friends outside, get back to work.”
Community and Public Sector Union members rocked up outside the Liberals’ Melbourne event on Friday afternoon to protest the policy.
“Good luck getting rid of us,” the union’s state branch secretary Jiselle Hanna said.
Victoria’s education union also condemned the plan as state Labor released an attack ad claiming it amounted to more than $40 billion in cuts and would put one in seven public servants out of a job.
“You can’t cut that hard and deep without impacting our schools and our hospitals,” Premier Jacinta Allan said.
In response to the Silver review, Treasurer Jaclyn Symes committed to cutting more than 1000 public service jobs and merging or abolishing 29 government entities and boards to save more than $4 billion across the next four years.
But the budget papers show employee expenses are still expected to rise from $41.1 billion this financial year to $45.5 billion in 2029/30.
Asked how she would reach the Liberals’ saving targets if the expected natural attrition of about six per cent didn’t materialise, Ms Wilson called it a “hypothetical”.
The state Liberal leader gave her speech in front of a live counter showing Victoria’s net debt, daily interest bill and what it could have paid for in nurses, police and teachers.
Victoria is on track to accrue $199.3 billion in net debt by mid-2030, sending interest repayments soaring above $32 million a day.
Treasury forecasts cash deficits of more than $30 billion over four years once spending on infrastructure projects is factored in.
Ms Wilson vowed to deliver a cash surplus by 2032, along with other fresh commitments to progressively lift the payroll tax threshold for businesses and land tax threshold for property investors.
“My team and I would love to do more and do it sooner but I have to be honest with Victorians, none of this will be easy,” she said.
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