Anger over planned Centrelink office closures in Newcastle has been compounded by the news that Newcastle and Lake Macquarie haven’t been spared in countrywide public service job cuts.
According to the latest snapshot by the Australian Public Service Commission, 69 jobs have been slashed in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in the past year alone.
This means less service and longer waits at government offices like Medicare and Centrelink.
The 2019 State of the Service report shows 3,158 jobs were slashed across the country in the Australian Public Service (APS) during the 2018-19 financial year.
Since 2013, when this Government came to power, 211 public service jobs have gone from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. That number is part of a whopping 18,908 across the country.
Unfortunately this is what we have come to expect from this anti-worker Liberal/National Government. Their crusade against workers and their conditions is not exclusive to the private sector; we are seeing cuts to jobs and job security in the public sector too.
At a time when this Government’s jobless rate is 5.1 per cent these job losses hurt the local economy and weaken the capacity of the public service to provide vital services in our region.
Hard working public servants and the communities of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie deserve more than reckless public service cuts and Centrelink closures.