David Farrar: Government to trim 8,700 public servants

Nicola Willis and Paul Goldsmith have announced the following:

• A target to return the ratio of public servants to the population of 1.0%, meaning a target of 55,000 by 2029

• A sinking lid on operating budgets for agencies that will save $2.4 billion with greater use of AI

• A reduction in the number of core department and ministries from 39 (Australia has 16)

The 55,000 figure will still be higher than what we had in 2019.

The ratio of public servants to the population was 1.00% back in 1993. It dropped to 0.75% in 2000. Under Clark it increased to 1.04% in 2009. It was basically stable from 2019 to 2018 at 0.97% to 1.01%. Then Jacinda, Hipkins and Grant went crazy and increased it to 1.21%.

This is a very significant reduction, and will be painful for those affected. But the country has to live within its means.

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