Last night on ABC Television, Mr Hockey reaffirmed that if the Coalition was elected they would slash the Australian Public Service by 12,000 jobs.
For a start 12,000 public servants in Canberra will be made redundant over a two year period, immediately on us being elected.Embarrassingly for Mr Hockey, this morning on radio, Liberal Senator Gary Humphries had to come out and correct his blunder:
...We would do that not by sacking people but by making natural attrition do the job of reducing the size of the public service, and its also important to point out, and I have to correct my colleague in this respect, those 12,000 wont all be in Canberra.These comments show the Opposition have no understanding of the Commonwealth budget they are simply focused on gaining headlines.
Mr Hockey is talking about sacking 12,000 workers but he doesnt even understand where they would come from. It is lazy work from a shadow treasurer who is not fit to manage the budget.
These comments also show Senator Humphries was misleading Australians when he claimed on 1 April this year that no public servant would lose their job under a Coalition Government.
The Gillard Government has a clear plan to return the budget to surplus in 2012-13, and to get more Australians into jobs.
Tony Abbott should clarify the comments of his shadow treasurer and make clear whether he plans to sack 12,000 Canberra workers or 12,000 workers across the country?
