Is Barnaby Joyce after your job?

Abbott has PS razor list already written: Joyce

(This article originally published in the Canberra Times)

An Abbott government would cut the public service and has already identified jobs that will go, Opposition finance spokesman Barnaby Joyce says.

Senator Joyce also questioned Australia's funding of a food program that helps feed mothers and children in countries including Haiti.

He committed yesterday the Opposition to reducing the size of the public sector.

''Through the [Expenditure Review Committee] process we have already gone down, we have identified savings. These will be tabled before the election,''

he said. He did not identify where those savings would come from, and said the Coalition was still looking for more savings. Savings were needed because Labor's increasing debt meant the money would eventually run out.

''The only way you can save jobs in the future of the public service is to control costs now. If you don't control costs now, you are putting at risk more people in the public service,'' he said.

Community and Public Sector Union deputy secretary Nadine Flood said this comment was baffling.

''Australia is facing many serious challenges like climate change, an ageing workforce, the education revolution and health reform. Having a well-resourced and independent public sector is crucial to finding our way through this,'' she said.

The ACT's Labor politicians Bob McMullen, Annette Ellis and Kate Lundy issued a statement calling for more information about how many public service jobs would be cut by a Coalition government.

''When the Howard government took power in 1996, they took an axe to the public service in Canberra, cut tens of thousands of local jobs, and helped cause a local recession,'' they said.

ACT Liberal senator Gary Humphries said he had discussed the comments with Senator Joyce and ''reaffirmed my long-standing view that any decisions made by a future Coalition government must take into account the interests of the Canberra community and the need for a strong and effective public service to serve that government''.

An incoming Coalition government would face ''tough decisions to rein in the rising deficits and spiralling debt''.

''I will, however, use my position as a member of the Coalition front bench to ensure that any such decisions take full account of the needs of my own community,'' he said.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said public-sector job cuts would put ''at risk the provision of vital welfare, safety and health services''.

''The federal public service increased dramatically in the last five years under the Howard government and has been held relatively stable in the two years of the Rudd Government,'' he said.

Senator Joyce also questioned the Government giving $50 million to the World Bank to deal with food inflation in the third world, but stopped short of saying Australia's aid budget should be cut. He said Australia was borrowing money to send back overseas.

The funding he referred to is part of the Global Food Crisis Response Group, which is used to feed poor children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It goes to many poor countries, including Haiti.

(This article was originally published in the Canberra Times)