‘Straight from the Trump playbook’: Dutton flags cultural diversity jobs are in the firing line

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has flagged that cultural diversity staffers would be in the firing line of a Coalition government, in a move that echoes US President Donald Trump’s decision to abolish federal diversity positions.

During an impassioned speech at the Menzies Research Centre on Friday, Dutton slammed the government over budget forecasts that show an increase of 36,000 public service jobs over three years to June 2025.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton speaking at the Menzies Research Centre on Friday.Credit: Louie Douvis

“Now positions have been advertised that include those required for cultural diversity and inclusion adviser positions, change managers and internal communication specialists, but such positions as I say, do nothing to improve the lives of everyday Australians,” he said.

“My economic team’s objectives are clear. We will cut wasteful spending, stop inflationary spending and restore prudent spending. Our government will scale back the Canberra public service in a responsible way.”

Last week, Dutton appointed Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to a new role of government efficiency in a bid to reduce public service spending.

“For a bureaucracy to work to the benefit of Australian taxpayers, it must be efficient. We will protect frontline positions in the defence, national security and intelligence space, but overall, we will drive greater efficiency and productivity through our plan,” Dutton said on Friday.

Dutton left after the event without taking questions from reporters.

It is unclear how a Coalition government would implement such changes as diversity and inclusion have been woven into many public service roles, including those of senior executives, as part of the Albanese government’s pledge for increased representation across the sector.

A senior Liberal source speaking on the condition of anonymity said the party did not yet have concrete plans on which public service jobs would be cut and that it was unlikely to reveal specifics before the election.

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly condemned Dutton’s speech, saying he had failed to comprehend that a workforce that reflected the public it served was better at delivering essential services.

“Today’s comments from Peter Dutton are straight from the Trump playbook, demonstrating his lack of ideas and his lack of understanding of modern workplaces,” she said in a statement.

“Inclusion and diversity may sound like an easy target to Mr Dutton and Mr Trump, but for people who access public services, the value of having someone who speaks their language and understands their experience is immeasurable.”

Teal MP Allegra Spender told ABC Afternoon Briefing Dutton’s comments lacked nuance, saying: “It is rather Trump-like, that play this afternoon, in terms of saying it is cultural diversity that is the problem here ... I see through that.”

The Australian Public Service workforce is projected to reach almost 210,000 by June, but many of the 36,000 extra jobs are in defence and security-related portfolios. For Dutton to hit his job-cutting target, one in four workers from the remaining 146,000 in other departments and agencies would have to be let go.

Separately, Price pledged to cut Commonwealth funding for Welcome to Country ceremonies.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will lead the opposition’s efficiency driveCredit: Alex Ellinghausen

Freedom of information documents obtained by the opposition’s government waste reduction spokesman, James Stevens, revealed agencies spent more than $450,000 over 2022-23 and 2023-24 on Welcome to Country ceremonies.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet spent more than $41,000 on 33 Welcome to Country ceremonies.

“That kind of funding could be redirected to actually improve the lives of marginalised Indigenous Australians, as opposed to being used for what is effectively a welcoming ceremony, many of which have now become quite politicised,” Price told ABC News on Friday.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said the opposition needed to reveal its plan for Indigenous Australians.

“The Coalition is really focused on culture wars and it really is quite disappointing. We know that the opposition leader walked out on the [2008 parliamentary] apology [to Indigenous Australians]. He won’t stand in front of the Indigenous flag. And now he doesn’t want elders doing Welcome to Country,” she told ABC Darwin.

Price’s government efficiency role borrows from the position Trump created for tech baron Elon Musk, who will run the US administration’s Department Of Government Efficiency.

But the senator resisted the comparison with Musk and denied the Coalition was mimicking Trump’s government.

“I don’t have the same sort of bank account as Mr Musk has,” she said. “There was no sort of looking at what Trump was doing and going ‘well, how can we do that over here?’.”

The political fight over the public service will fire up again when parliament returns next week, as the government plans to introduce laws requiring employers to commit to gender equality targets. The Coalition says the proposed laws are “government overreach”.

Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher in April last year introduced a plan to increase the representation of culturally and racially diverse employees in the senior leadership ranks of the Australian Public Service to 24 per cent.

Gallagher said Dutton needed to come clean on what his $347 billion in planned cuts would mean for cost-of-living relief, pensioners, Medicare and veterans seeking compensation.

“Australians would be worse off under Peter Dutton,” she said.

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