The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has gone into overdrive in the wake of the Federal Budget, warning that another wave of federal job shedding is just around the corner thanks to the confirmation of a policy of strongly pursuing outsourcing to the private sector.

Although specific numbers remain largely elusive, the release Tuesday’s documents confirmed that the Abbott government is planning a massive “third wave” of agency abolitions, amalgamations and downsizings that are now expected to be revealed by the end of the year.

Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Joe Hockey had been widely expected to spell out a more definitive roadmap for both machinery of government changes and asset liquidations.

However the Coalition’s first Budget opted for slower approach to taking on board the recommendations of the Commission of Audit, including the divestment of Defence Housing Australia, the Royal Australian Mint, Australian Hearing and the registry functions of ASIC, that are now being put to scoping studies.

While the asset sales are an appealing short term financial option, the biggest hits are likely to be to so-called back office administration functions that are set for either consolidation or outsourcing.

Last night, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten conspicuously avoided the mention of the scale of APS cuts, an unsurprising omission given that Labor instigated the loss of 14,500 APS jobs courtesy of its efficiency dividend that the Coalition has boosted by 0.25 per cent.

It is understood the initial preference is for selective outsourcing as this would give the government more choices in terms of suppliers it could potentially relocate existing public service staff to.

Some of the functions on the outsourcing chopping block, according to industry sources, include payroll services, some human resources, finance and accounting and a range of more specialised assessment services for frontline agencies like Tax and Human Services.

Also expected to be put up for “contest” in the market are customer contact and services – such as call centres and some information technology  functions where the government has had trouble filling roles because pay scales are well below that of private industry.

The CPSU is directly opposing the fresh push, warning the public service is already at breaking point.

The union said the latest cuts 16,500 public sector jobs over the next three “doesn’t include the many further job losses that will flow from [the Coalition’s] massive program of privatisation and outsourcing.”

The CPSU said Budget documents showed 2695 jobs has already been cut, with a further 7336 to go over 2014-15.

“This Budget is a con job,” said CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said.

“Step one they pretend the public service is bigger than it is, step two they run down the public service through cuts, step three they sell it off to their big business mates.”

Ms Flood said “the only real winners” in the Budget were multinational corporations who will be lining up to run public services for a profit.

However there is understood to be firm pressure being applied from within the ATO and Finance departments for any multi-nationals that do score big deals to be forced to pay tax onshore.

Tax, where big job reductions are already in play, is firmly in the sights of the CPSU in terms of the revenue shortfall.

“Cutting 2300 tax workers is not going to help us collect the revenue Australia needs for essential services. Cutting 500 CSIRO staff will not help us come up with world-class innovations we need for globally competitive industries. And cutting civilian staff in Defence simply means taking soldiers out of the frontline and putting them behind desks,” Ms Flood said.

Budget APS redundancies cull just an entrée for new outsourcing jobs cull warns CPSU

Confirmed 16,500 sackings just the start of new wave sell-offs and dispatch of jobs to industry

Julian Bajkowski

The Community and Public Sector Union has gone into overdrive in the wake of the Federal Budget, warning that another wave of federal job shedding is just around the corner thanks to the confirmation of a policy of strongly pursuing outsourcing to the private sector.

Although specific numbers remain largely elusive, the release Tuesday’s documents confirmed that the Abbott government is planning a massive “third wave” of agency abolitions, amalgamations and downsizings that are now expected to be revealed by the end of the year.

Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Joe Hockey had been widely expected to spell out a more definitive roadmap for both machinery of government changes and asset liquidations.

However the Coalition’s first Budget opted for slower approach to taking on board the recommendations of the Commission of Audit, including the divestment of Defence Housing Australia, the Royal Australian Mint, Australian Hearing and the registry functions of ASIC, that are now being put to scoping studies.

While the asset sales are an appealing short term financial option, the biggest hits are likely to be to so-called back office administration functions that are set for either consolidation or outsourcing.

It is understood the initial preference is for selective outsourcing as this would give the government more choices in terms of suppliers it could potentially relocate existing public service staff to.

Some of the functions on the outsourcing chopping block, according to industry sources, include payroll services, some human resources, finance and accounting and a range of more specialised assessment services for frontline agencies like Tax and Human Services.

Also expected to be put up for “contest” in the market are customer contact and services – such as call centres and some information technology  functions where the government has had trouble filling roles because pay scales are well below that of private industry.

The CPSU is directly opposing the fresh push, warning the public service is already at breaking point.

The union said the latest cuts 16,500 public sector jobs over the next three “doesn’t include the many further job losses that will flow from [the Coalition’s] massive program of privatisation and outsourcing.”

The CPSU said Budget documents showed 2695 jobs has already been cut, with a further 7336 to go over 2014-15.

“This Budget is a con job,” said CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said.

“Step one they pretend the public service is bigger than it is, step two they run down the public service through cuts, step three they sell it off to their big business mates.”

Ms Flood said “the only real winners” in the Budget were multinational corporations who will be lining up to run public services for a profit.

However there is understood to be firm pressure being applied from within the ATO and Finance departments for any multi-nationals that do score big deals to be forced to pay tax onshore.

Tax, where big job reductions are already in play, is firmly in the sights of the CPSU in terms of the revenue shortfall.

“Cutting 2300 tax workers is not going to help us collect the revenue Australia needs for essential services. Cutting 500 CSIRO staff will not help us come up with world-class innovations we need for globally competitive industries. And cutting civilian staff in Defence simply means taking soldiers out of the frontline and putting them behind desks,” Ms Flood said.