Public service jobs to be cut in Joe Hockey’s first Budget as Treasurer

TREASURER Joe Hockey is preparing to target a number of departments as part of drastic budget cuts to the public service.

Cuts are coming ... Treasurer Joe Hockey. Picture: Gary Ramage

TREASURER Joe Hockey is preparing to target his own department as part of drastic budget cuts to the public service.

The Australian is reporting that 3000 jobs are set to go in the Australian Tax Office alone, within the Treasurer’s own portfolio, and more than 200 government programs will be cut back or scrapped altogether.

“You can have lots of small programs that involve a massive amount of red tape with very little outcome,” Mr Hockey said.

“What we’ve got to do is refocus the energy of the public sector in Canberra.”

The Australian reports that the most significant cuts will occur in the environment, transport, industry, agriculture and indigenous affairs portfolios.

The Commission of Audit believed 15,000 jobs could be cut if its recommendations to repair the Budget were adopted.

It suggested the Education Department be “significantly reduced”, with power for policy and funding handed to the states.

The staffing size of Defence headquarters in Canberra, including senior roles, should be reduced to 1998 levels it proposed, arguing the number of executives has ballooned by 63 per cent since 2000.

Abolishing seven whole government agencies, including the Climate Change Authority and Clean Energy Finance Corporation already legislated to go under the Abbott government, were among other recommendations.

A plan to “better target” welfare payments could also reduce the number of staff needed to administer payments, the Commission claimed, as well as outsourcing the granting of visas.

The news follows yesterday’s reports that petrol excise indexation will likely be reintroduced in next Tuesday’s Budget.

The excise was frozen in 2001 at 38.14 cents a litre, but industry experts say indexation to inflation would raise an extra $1.1 billion a year in 2016/17, rising to $1.6 billion in 2017/18.

Another option floated in government ranks is lifting the excise rate by up to three cents a litre, estimated to raise an extra $1.2 billion a year on top of the $18.5 billion already forecast.

Originally published as Public service jobs to be cut in Joe Hockey’s first Budget as Treasurer