Andrew Leigh

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION

MEMBER FOR FRASER

MEDIA RELEASE

ABBOTT WRECKING BALL STRIKES THE ATO

News that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has offered 500 voluntary redundancies in its effort to slash 900 positions represents a broken promise that jobs would be shed only by natural attrition.

The Abbott Government promised cuts to the Australian Public Service (APS) solely through natural attrition. It’s a lie. Redundancies are now in full flow.

“Well, we’ve said that it will all be though natural attrition. We want government to be no bigger than it has to be and obviously it’s much bigger than it needs to be right now.” – Tony Abbott, 14 July 2013 Doorstop interview, Sydney

On being elected Mr Abbott said he would lead “A government that says what it means and means what it says. A government of no surprises and no excuses.”

But the Government's extreme agenda has seen a worsening of the employment situation across Australia, especially in regional areas, since the Coalition was elected.

Savage cuts to the APS inevitably result in a loss of services including compliance. Can the Government guarantee otherwise?

Redundancies at the Tax Office immediately add uncertainty to ATO workplaces and stress for those who’ll remain.

Cuts to the APS are having a depressing impact especially in the nation's capital. The Abbott Government is yet to explain how its hostility towards the APS impacts productivity.

The Government’s axe, driven by ideology and a bias for outsourcing, stifles the kinds of innovations the public expect of an independent and robust Commonwealth Public Service.

Most pressing for the bureaucracy is the anticipated outcome of the Commission of Audit, which key departments fear will hit them like a wrecking ball.

ENDS

8 FEBRUARY 2014