O'Farrell to cut 6000 jobs from health and education
Posted: Wednesday, 4 July 2012 | By: John Robertson
Secret treasury documents reveal that 3600 jobs will be cut from NSW hospitals over four years, with another 2400 set to be axed from schools and TAFE colleges under Barry O'Farrell.
Opposition Leader John Robertson said the cuts are detailed in the Government's own internal treasury briefings which confirm the Premier will axe thousands of frontline staff as part of 15,000 jobs to go across the NSW public sector.
"Barry O'Farrell's promise of more frontline staff for our schools and hospitals has been exposed as nothing more than a pre-election lie," said Mr Robertson.
"The Government's own figures reveal Barry O'Farrell plans to cut 600 workers a year, or more than 2400 over four years, out of our schools and TAFE colleges alone.
"Another 3600 workers will be sacked by NSW Health over the next four years - causing longer hospital waiting times and compromising patient care.
"Frontline workers are not quarantined from the cuts and that means everyone from paramedics and physiotherapists in our hospitals, to teachers' aides, TAFE teachers and school counsellors, will be in the firing line.
"Altogether, almost $150 million worth of job cuts a year will be targeted at our public schools and hospitals – costing around 6000 jobs over four years."
The job cuts are detailed in internal treasury documents that reveal NSW Health will be required to cut $88.8 million a year from employee expenses, whilst the Education Department will lose $42.1 million worth of permanent employees in 2012-13, with another $17.9 million cut from the temporary staffing budget.
"Funding cuts of this magnitude will impact on children across the State and make it much harder for teachers in the classroom - with TAFE teachers and school support staff including teachers' aides and school counsellors set to lose their jobs," said Mr Robertson.
"These workers provide assistance to children with special needs and learning difficulties, help to run reading recovery programs in our schools and provide emotional and psychological support to disadvantaged children.
"In health, more than 900 hospital workers a year will lose their jobs under Barry O'Farrell - with paramedics, obstetricians, speech pathologists, radiographers and other specialists set to be sacked, along with cleaning staff, caterers and porters.
"We will see waiting times increase and patient care compromised as a result of these irresponsible cuts to hospital staff. You cannot cut these workers without impacting on frontline services.
"Yesterday, the Deputy Premier confirmed there is no cap on redundancies and that means we could see even more jobs cut by 2016.
"It's time for the Premier to come clean and tell the public, exactly which workers will be sacked – and which public services will axed."
"Our plans for NSW include hiring more frontline staff"
– Barry O'Farrell, Contract with NSW, March 2011
"We will need more public servants, not less"
– Barry O'Farrell, Fate of our State debate, 24 Feb 2011
Tags: Barry O'Farrell, education, health, jobs, John Robertson, schools, TAFE, treasury, unemployment