SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES

SENATOR NITA GREEN
SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND

SERVICES TO BE WORSE IN CAIRNS UNDER DUTTON

Local jobs and access to vital government services will be at risk in Cairns and across Far North Queensland under Peter Dutton, highlighting the choice for locals at this year’s federal election.

The Coalition has committed to cutting 36,000 public service jobs across the country – 20 per cent of the entire APS – but Peter Dutton is still yet to clarify what impact this would have on the Far North. 

We know it would have a significant effect on the services locals rely on, leading to delays for Centrelink payments, veterans’ claims, Medicare rebates, and longer times on hold to government services.

There are thousands of people reliance on these services in Cairns, including over 30,000 people with a pension concession card, almost 12,000 people with a healthcare card, almost 4,000 receiving single parenting payments, and thousands more receiving the Family Tax Benefit, disability support, and carer payments.

There are also 4,000 people in Cairns receiving support through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.  The LNP’s failure to adequately staff DVA while in government lead to a backlog of 42,000 claims going unallocated, while their Veterans’ Minister threatened to resign over the failure. 

Every single one of these locals would feel the impact of Peter Dutton’s cuts to these services. 

Their plan will also devastate an important source of local employment, at a time when Cairns locals are already grappling with cost of living pressures. There are over 1,000 Cairns residents who work in the APS, including:

• Over 400 at Services Australia who help to administer Centrelink, Medicare, and disaster recovery claims,
• Over 100 civilian Defence personnel, necessary for maintaining Cairns’ role as a key naval base,
• Over 100 at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, who play an essential role in protecting our key industries in the Far North

Contrary to what the Coalition claims, the majority of public servants live and work outside Canberra. Across the country, Peter Dutton’s commitment would translate to 22,700 job losses outside of Canberra – including almost 5,000 Queenslanders.

It is a direct threat to the progress made by the Albanese Government, which has been hard at work since 2022 rebuilding the APS’ capacity to deliver the services Australians expect and deserve, after a decade of neglect by the Liberals and Nationals.

QUOTES ATTRIBTUABLE TO MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE, SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER:

“Peter Dutton’s commitment to cutting 20 per cent of the public service should be ringing alarm bells for Cairns locals.

“When families are already doing it tough, the last thing they need are delays to crucial government payments.

“The LNP need to front up to voters today and explain why they want to proceed these cuts and the devastating impact they’d have on essential services like Medicare and Centrelink.

“Rather than the lazy conservative cutting, we should be investing in a strong public service to deliver the services that Cairns locals need and deserve.”

QUOTES ATTRIBTUABLE TO MATT SMITH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT:

“Over a thousand people in Cairns and Far North Queensland work in the Australian Public Service - their jobs deserve to be protected.

"People in Far North Queensland are already feeling the pressures of cost of living, they don't deserve to live with the fear of losing their jobs after the election.

"I will stand up for these workers and demand their jobs be off the chopping block."

QUOTES ATTRIBUTABLE TO NITA GREEN, SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND:

“Public servants work incredibly hard for their communities to keep the our region safe and get families the support they need.

"Jeremy Neal should come clean with not only these workers, but our community, about what the impact of his public service cuts will mean.

“Sacking these public servants will not only be disastrous for thousands of families, but it will have real life impacts on some of our most vulnerable Australians.

“Only an Albanese Labor Government will protect these workers and the incredible job they do for their communities.”

ENDS