CPSU says 500 more jobs could go from Human Services

DHS rules out more cuts for FY 2014-15, points to natural attrition.

21 July, 2014

Human Services 13-hour-day rosters become industrial battleground

Negotiations push envelope of normal work hours.

15 July, 2014

Why public servants should be impartial

Australian Public Service Commissioner, Stephen Sedgwick, argues that those employed by the government have long been asked to exercise judgement and discretion if entering into public debate.

22 April, 2014

Abetz finally forced to negotiating table over pay says CPSU

The government is poised to up its pay offer to public servants from nothing at all to a below inflation pay increase as talks begin in earnest.

28 March, 2014

Public Service wages and conditions in Coalition crosshairs

Eric Abetz and Tony Abbott have dispensed with the niceties in the renegotiation of the APS’s main industrial instrument warning bureaucrats to either agree to a pay freeze or cop a haircut on leave entitlements.

19 February, 2014

Regions now in firing line for 14,500 federal job cuts

By Julian Bajkowski The Federal Government’s job cutting axe is set to fall on at least 56 Department of Human Services IT staff in Hobart, as agencies start to look beyond Canberra for forced retrenchment fodder in order to meet efficiency dividend targets. The proposed federal job losses in the state with Australia’s highest unemployment […]

6 December, 2013

Total APS job cuts too difficult to predict for Public Service Commission

By Julian Bajkowski The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has released its annual stocktake of the federal bureaucracy with the grim warning that it is now “difficult to predict” how the cumulative impact of successive rounds of job cuts under both the Coalition and Labor will hit staff numbers. Tabled in Parliament on Monday afternoon, […]

2 December, 2013

APS redundancies flow as staff turnover stalls

By Julian Bajkowski  The Abbott government’s promise that its cull of 12,000 positions from the federal public service will only come through ‘natural attrition’ is coming even further unstuck after the Department of Agriculture told staff it wants 220 voluntary redundancies. An all staff email from Agriculture Department secretary, Paul Grimes, candidly admits that “natural […]

12 November, 2013

Scientists demand proper measurement of CSIRO staff freeze

By Julian Bajkowski Australia’s scientific peak scientific research organisation and its staff association is playing a straight bat to reports that it could be gutted and lose up to a quarter of its staff under public service staff cuts that aim to cull 12,000 positions without redundancies. As a public service hiring freeze enforced by […]

8 November, 2013

Public service morale plummets as 12,000 ‘natural attrition’ target fizzles

By Julian Bajkowski The prospect of looming job cuts in the federal public service is dragging down morale and feeding into a climate of deep uncertainty over job security, unions and Canberra’s Labor politicians have warned. As the Coalition government sets about attempting to thin the ranks of the bureaucracy by 12,000 positions through ‘natural […]

8 November, 2013

Feds hit by massive hiring freeze

By Julian Bajkowski Federal departments and agencies have been hit by an official hiring freeze as the Abbott government attempts to cull 12,000 public service jobs without resorting to redundancies as it tries to bring down government staffing costs. The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), the federal bureaucracy’s industrial umpire, has issued a notice that […]

1 November, 2013

Public Sector Management Program put to market

By Paul Hemsley The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has put its hallmark Public Sector Management Program out to market after it issued a calling for a higher education institution to manage the course by updating its curriculum and delivering it across all states and territories in Australia. A staple qualification for ascendant public servants, […]

18 October, 2013

More public sector sackings expected in Budget

 By Julian Bajkowski   Federal public servants are bracing for a fresh round of job cuts after pre-Budget scene setting by the Gillard government confirmed around $580 million savings aim to be extracted from the bureaucratic machinery.   The projected savings have triggered warnings from the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) but are understood […]

14 May, 2013

Feds get $1.1 million parking ticket

By Julian Bajkowski If you thought the price of parking is a rip-off, spare a thought for Senator Penny Wong, the Federal Finance Minister. New figures and analysis released today by Canberra’s top bean-counters reveal that the Commonwealth public servants spent a total $1.1 million in ‘parking fees’ over the 2011-12 financial year – a […]

11 April, 2013