By Angela Dorizas
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has announced that a Coalition Government would introduce a $1.2 billion package of expenditure reductions in order to bring the budget back into surplus.
A Coalition Government would axe a number of environmental programs, including the Green Building Fund, Retooling for Climate Change Initiative and the $200 million Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.
The Coalition would also cease community cabinet meetings, discontinue additional funding for the State Infrastructure Fund, scrap Australia’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council and reduce the number of COAG meetings to just two a year to be held in Canberra.
“We believe that these are reductions to bureaucracy, not reductions in services,” Mr Abbott said.
“We want to maintain services, but we believe that services are best maintained with less bureaucracy and that’s why there’s a further $1.2 billion of reductions in government expenditure here.”
Earlier this year, the Coalition promised that it would freeze public sector recruitment for two years, cutting around 12,000 jobs.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) slammed the Coalition’s plan to reduce the public service.
CPSU national secretary, Nadine Flood, called on the Coalition to detail what public service jobs would be lost.
“We are calling on Tony Abbott to outline exactly which support function jobs will be lost and what plans are in place for the work that remains,” Ms Flood said.
“These people don’t enjoy seeing their jobs and futures being kicked around like a football by politicians trying to show how hard they can be.”
Ms Flood added that the Coalition “can not credibly argue that these cuts won’t have an effect on the essential services our community relies on”.
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