The next few months will be a very challenging time for many public servants. They face possibly losing their own job, but also there being very few new jobs to apply for in the next few months. This means that they have to worry about paying the mortgage, kids expenses etc. No-one should lose sight of this.
It is not the fault of individual public servants that government spending is $18 billion a year higher than labour promised it would cap it at. The vast majority are hard working and dedicated to their jobs. The fault is the previous Ministers who managed to simultaneously oversee a huge increase in spending and in public service numbers, and also a decline in most actual public services.
So while the cuts are necessary, they should not be seen as something to celebrate. At the end of the day any family losing a source of income is a matter of great distress to them, whether they be mine workers or public servants.
Hopefully the recession will end soon, and new job opportunities will be created.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
So while the cuts are necessary, they should not be seen as something to celebrate. At the end of the day any family losing a source of income is a matter of great distress to them, whether they be mine workers or public servants.
Hopefully the recession will end soon, and new job opportunities will be created.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
6 comments:
There are a myriad public servants largely occupied just in placing a pro maori slant on all works. To improve security, safety being perceived in large numbers, empire building has been rife. They should be the first public servants to go. For these well paid persons there is nothing in normal employment comparable. Many are in for a big but well deserved fall. Unfortunately near all will join the embittered irrational maori instinctive malcontents.
Fair comment David, but I'll wager none will be "mine workers" and many would be pleased to see a reduction in the likes of DEI officers and other "woke" orientated roles that serve little purpose other than to create additional bureaucracy, and positions for you know who?
where was this empathy from the public sector workers when people (including many of their colleagues) were downsized in the same of vaccine mandates?
what about empathy for oil and gas workers when the refinery was shut down as a virtue signaling gesture?
what about empathy for small businesses who could never recover from the effects of prolonged lockdowns (while larger retailers stayed open)?
sorry - nobody has a right to empathy!
A positive out of this is that some, hopefully most, of the clearly redundant workers is that they will soon find real jobs, and at the end of their new working day will go home with a sense of satisfaction of achieving something useful for N Z society.
David , You are barking up the wrong tree this time as all the insider workers losing their jobs did not give a jot of thought to farmers , construction industry and fisherman who were weather dependant and their income was always on a knife edge. The biggest saving for NZ will be in the removal of office rent , heating , ventilating costs and sundry costs the unproductive for NZ Inc office workers are paid for. If they can prove their salary factually adds to NZ productivity and export income GDP then consideration should be given, otherwise goodbye the time is up.
David you will know or be able to confirm all public servant costs are just accepted as NZ productivity.Thats why Wellington has alledgedly high pr,oductivity.EG $50 million spent on an Auckland bridge not built, still counts as productivity.
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