New polling shows Australians don't support Abbott's public service cuts
28 August 2012, 7:25am
New polling shows the Australian public has given the thumbs down to proposed Coalition cuts to the public sector, the CPSU said today.
CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said that research by Essential Media showed 67 per cent of Australians were concerned about the prospect of a Coalition Government cutting 12,000 jobs in the federal public service.
“It is clear that the public can see through the spin that these cuts can somehow be achieved without reducing the services the Australian community relies on,” Ms Flood said. “The public service is already stretched and further cuts will lead to greater pressures on staff and reductions in service quality.”
The polling showed that 53 per cent of people believed the cuts would lead to worse services, while only 14 per cent believed they would lead to better services. It also showed that a clear majority of people believed the cuts would adversely impact rural and regional areas while 60 per cent believed that cuts to support staff would hurt frontline services.
The CPSU will this week launch its “Cuts Hurt” campaign against public service cuts, "This campaign is about engaging with the public, who depend on public services, and ensuring every MP knows the depth of community concern about the issue," Ms Flood said.
"The federal public service performs many vital services for our community, from delivering payments to millions of families, protecting our borders and supporting our military to forecasting the weather."
"If the Coalition is elected federally and implements its $50 billion program of cuts, the impact on ordinary Australians will be enormous.
"The community is already being hit by 40,000 jobs cut by conservative state governments in Queensland, NSW and Victoria. "The Coalition are now openly promoting a UK-style ‘Big Society' approach, which has cut hundreds of thousands of jobs and destroyed services in Britain, while delivering huge outsourcing contracts to massive multi-national corporations such as Serco and G4S," Ms Flood said.
For comment please contact Dermot Browne 0408 265 081
Impact of Cutting Public Sector
Q.
The Liberal and National Parties have said they will cut between $50 billion and
$70 billion from the Commonwealth public sector if they win the next election
and the Treasurer Joe Hockey has said at least 12,000 jobs will be cut. Do you
think cutting at least 12,000 jobs from the Commonwealth public sector will
results in better or worse service to the people of Australia?
Impact of Cutting Public Sector
Q.
The Liberal and National Parties have said they will cut between $50 billion and
$70 billion from the Commonwealth public sector if they win the next election
and the Treasurer Joe Hockey has said at least 12,000 jobs will be cut. Do you
think cutting at least 12,000 jobs from the Commonwealth public sector will
results in better or worse service to the people of Australia?
Total
Vote Labor
Vote Lib/Nat
Vote Greens
Total better service
14%
7%
25%
3%
Total worse service
53%
77%
31%
74%
Much better service
6%
1%
13%
1%
A little better service
8%
6%
12%
2%
Make no difference
23%
10%
37%
12%
A little worse service
19%
19%
19%
19%
Much worse service
34%
58%
12%
55%
Don’t know
10%
6%
8%
12%
Concern about Cutting Public Sector
Q. How concerned are you
that at least 12,000 jobs might be cut from the Commonwealth public sector?
Total
Vote Labor
Vote Lib/Nat
Vote Greens
Very concerned
23%
40%
9%
46%
Somewhat concerned
23%
30%
19%
23%
A little concerned
21%
13%
27%
14%
Not really concerned
26%
11%
42%
12%
Don’t know
7%
6%
4%
4%
Public Sector Issues
Q. Do you agree or disagree
with the following statements?
Total
Agree
Total
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Don't
know
The Commonwealth public sector
cannot take 12,000 job cuts and still maintain service quality.
57%
28%
24%
33%
21%
7%
15%
Regardless of what they say before
elections, Liberal Governments always cut public services.
52%
22%
20%
32%
19%
3%
26%
Many of the Commonwealth public
sector functions should be outsourced to private companies.
30%
48%
5%
25%
29%
19%
22%
Many of the Commonwealth public
sector functions should be outsourced to charities and not for profit
organisations.
32%
42%
5%
27%
29%
13%
25%
Cutting the public service will most
hurt regional and rural areas.
57%
22%
22%
35%
17%
5%
21%
Cutting support and admin staff will
affect the quality of service provided by frontline staff.
