PM FLAGS BELT TIGHTENING IN PUBLIC SERVICE
PUBLIC service department heads will be forced to find $2.7bn in savings to help fund the Coalition’s election commitments, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison declaring the move is “entirely sensible” and something “taxpayers were demanding”.
The Coalition, in a bid to wage war on Labor on economic responsibility, unveiled its policy costings to reveal Australia’s coffers would be $1bn better off than previously expected even with billions more in promises.
This will be done by increasing the public service efficiency dividend – or the percentage a department must cut annually from its running costs – to 2 per cent until 2025.
Fixing an “imbalance” in public sector superannuation contributions would save a further $650m.
Mr Morrison defended the public service cuts, saying it would not affect programs, but he would not weigh in on what it would do to the amount spent on consultants and contractors.
He said this was how his government could provide cost of living relief, like slashing the fuel excise, support defence and essential services.
“If our senior public servants, and they’re paid well, if they can’t find $2.7bn out of a budget of $327.3bn, well, I’ve got a lot more confidence in them than that,” Mr Morrison said.
“At this election, we’ve been responsible and the commitments that we’ve made, and it’s important that we make very clear how we pay for them.”
He said departments would make “sensible decisions” about ways to achieve those cuts, such as spending on accommodation and administration costs.
The Coalition’s framing of Labor as weak on the economy because it has not submitted its policies to the independent budget umpire for costing comes amid the ongoing wedge over housing. The Super Home Buyer Scheme, announced at the Coalition’s campaign launch, would allow firsthome buyers to tap into up to 40 per cent or $50,000 of their superannuation funds in order to break into the property market.
At a new housing development near Palmerston, in the Northern Territory, on Tuesday, Mr Morrison said he was “disappointed” Labor senator Penny Wong had said the super scheme was “a gamble”.
“If Labor thinks that’s a gamble, then they have lost touch completely with the aspirations and goals of Australian families,” he said.