Frontline jobs go as service shrinks
QUEENSLAND’S bloated public service has deflated for the first time under the Palaszczuk Government, but it was frontline workers who got the boot.
New Public Service Commission workforce figures reveal the state employed 212,639 staff across all departments at the end of December last year.
That was a drop of 212 peo- ple since September and the first time since Annastacia Palaszczuk was elected Premier that job losses were recorded in the bureaucracy.
The majority were in frontline services, with 244 lost from those ranks.
There was a contraction of just 31 jobs in corporate services, as the percentage of public servants who call themselves managers ticked up again.
Ms Palaszczuk said the overall number of frontline staff had increased since Labor came to office. She said numbers of full-time teachers and teacher aides had increased by 4007, and full-time nurses had increased by 3274.
There were 1199 more doctors, 295 more ambulance officers, 212 more police officers, 122 more fire and emergency staff and 71 more child safety officers employed.
“Nine out of every 10 government workers are in frontline or frontline support roles,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
But Shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson said the Government’s priorities were wrong as the proportion of back-of-house bureaucrats again climbed.
“Yet again we’ve seen this Government employ more spin doctors, with the number of communications and media staff now totalling more than 1000,” he said.
The largest contraction in jobs was in outback Queensland, where an 8 per cent drop was recorded.
The Newman government spent millions of dollars on redundancies, reducing the public service from 209,000 to 192,000 full-time equivalent positions by June 2013, angering many voters.
The numbers had been steadily increasing until now.
The report also showed the pay gap between men and women had closed by about $100 over the three months, but women were still paid about $9256 less than men a year due mostly to holding less senior roles.