Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I have seen the report released by the Centre for Policy Development to which Senator Kroger refers. I reject its assertions. It employs all the usual criticisms. For example, it says things like 'the approach to achieving efficiency in the public service is too narrow', 'the efficiency dividend is too blunt a savings mechanism' and 'there should be more innovation and accountability measures'—all very wonderful for an academic treatise. On innovation and accountability, the Centre for Policy Development advocates 'temporarily implementing more permissive standards to create a window for experimentation with new techniques by front-line workers', 'front-line staff should be given the opportunity to question the accountability structures' and 'the discretion and monitoring functions should be subject to peer review'.

All this stuff is pretty worthy of a high distinction in modern left-wing ideology and theory but, might I say, not very practical. Indeed, you would be forgiven for believing that the CPSU or the CFMEU may have written the report. It is a very different thing when you are confronted with accumulated projected gross debt of $667 billion, interest payments of $1 billion per month and 14,500 secretly initiated public sector job cuts—all courtesy of the previous Labor-Greens government. In contrast to the meataxe approach advocated by former Labor Prime Minister Rudd, this government is taking a considered and methodical approach to achieving an efficient and sustainable public service.