Australia’s science and technology sector urges the Coalition to rethink swingeing cuts to the size of the Australian Public Service workforce and commit to protecting the many STEM professionals employed by government.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has signalled a scaling back of tens of thousands of public service workers in order to bank savings to expand Medicare bulk billing.
“We rely on a strong public service with subject matter expertise and depth to drive effective policy for Australia’s prosperity, and delivery on the proposed Coalition agenda will require a science embedded and informed APS,” said STA CEO Ryan Winn.
“Cutting public service workers is a false economy. Any cut to the public service’s over 20,000 skilled scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians (STEM) or the policy specialists who engage with expert advice would have a devastating on impact the nation’s push towards future prosperity as well as the services that all Australians rely on.”
“STEM professionals in the APS are ensuring that Australians get the nuclear medicine they need to fight cancer, developing climate predictions to help reduce insurance premiums, ensuring our medical treatments are safe, supporting our Defence forces to have effective technologies in a volatile world, ensuring that the country is tackling biodiversity loss, and much more.”
“Australia cannot afford to lose that expertise.”
“In four years’ time Australia’s annual budget expenditure is expected to be $826 billion. The comparatively small short-term savings that might come from cutting essential public service roles will come at a huge cost to the country’s future. We urge the opposition to find the savings they think they need elsewhere.”
