Hundreds more Victorian public servants told they will lose their jobs

Another 500 Victorian public servants are set to lose their jobs as the axe swings across multiple state government departments.

Premier Jacinta Allan says all departments are in the process of ‘reprioritising efforts across government’. Picture: David Crosling

Another 500 public servants are set to lose their jobs as part of government-wide job slashings, with a key union warninge ssential services could be put at risk from massive departmental restructures.

With the threat of thousands of job losses mooted ahead of May’s budget in an effort to rein in the state’s mammoth debt, hundreds of workers have this week been told they’ll be axed from the public service.

Up to 220 jobs within the Department of Jobs are set to go, while 300 roles within the Department of Health will be slashed.

Community and Public Sector Union Victoria assistant secretary Wayne Townsend confirmed “cuts of this magnitude”.

“We’ve got serious concerns about the potential loss of services to the community,” he said.

“It’s not possible to axe this many jobs and still provide those essential services.”

The Herald Sun in July first revealed the changes within the health department, after leaked footage showed department secretary Euan Wallace flagged the mass cuts.

It is unclear what roles will be lost, but the cuts do not impact frontline healthcare workers.

A Department of Health spokeswoman confirmed 305 jobs would be lost across its entire network.

Secretary of the Department of Health Euan Wallace flagged the mass job cuts.

She said the proposal is being shared with staff on Thursday.

“Health is one of the Victorian Government’s largest investments and it’s important we regularly review our priorities andhow we’re resourcing them to ensure we are best placed to support the long term transformation our health system needs,” shesaid.

“We are releasing a proposed new structure to staff today which reflects the direction we need to take our health system forward,while also delivering on the reprioritisation decisions announced in recent budgets.

“There will be no changes to frontline health services or workers as a result of the Department restructure.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the job losses are a result of the government’s “waste and mismanagementof Victorian taxpayers money in projects that have blown out by tens of billions of dollars, and debt that is soaring outof control”.

Ahead of this year’s state budget all government departments were told to cut 10 per cent of their workforce, paving the way for 5000 workers to be let go.

Premier Jacinta Allan on Thursday said all government departments are in the process of “reprioritising efforts across government”.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed almost 300 department of justice staff were axed in mass job cuts, including workerswho manage some of Victoria’s highest-risk offenders.

Executive staff at Corrections Victoria have warned ministers about a risk to public safety amid mass job cuts to workerswho manage high risk offenders that serve their sentences in the community.

The Herald Sun has been told that during a regional meeting with corrections staff about the major budget cuts on Wednesday,a corrections executive said the changes would result in more crimes being committed and an increased risk to the community.

Workers in the meeting, speaking anonymously for fear of their jobs, said they were told other executives had raised theirconcerns with the minister over the risk to the community due to the cuts.

Perpetrators supervised by staff whose jobs have been axed include high risk sex offenders, serious violence offenders andfamily violence offenders.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesman rejected any suggestion community safety would be impacted from the cuts.

“It will better match complex, higher risk offenders with more experienced staff and improve flexibility to balance caseloads and respond to changes in demand as they arise,” he said.

“Under the proposed model, there will be more staff dedicated to managing high and medium risk offenders.

“This will support a safer community and help to deliver better rehabilitation outcomes for people on Community Correction Orders.”