960 vacancies identified as first jobs to go under Springborg jobs purge

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas today identified the first 960 jobs most likely to go under the Opposition’s plan to cut 12,000 jobs from the public service over the next 12 months.

The 960 jobs are current advertised vacancies for positions in schools and hospitals as well as State Government departments throughout the State.

Mr Lucas said: “These are the jobs that are right now on Lawrence Springborg’s chopping block.

“These are the jobs that are at serious risk – the first of the 12,000 jobs that will be axed for the Opposition to find their $1 billion a year in budget cuts.

“Mr Springborg has been trying to argue that frontline jobs and service delivery support jobs are safe from his natural attrition policy of not filling vacancies.

“But if that is so, then there’s absolutely no way he can achieve his billion dollars worth of budget cuts.

“Even if every administrative position remained unfilled, he would still fall more than $900 million short of his target.

“In other words, he will have no option to swing his jobs axe down hard on frontline and service delivery support positions.”

Mr Lucas said Mr Springborg’s promised budget cuts meant that every current vacancy in the public service and every future vacancy that arose would most likely remain unfilled.

“So far in this election campaign Labor has exposed Lawrence Springborg’s plans to slash jobs from vital public services under a policy that would devastate communities across Queensland.

“Mr Springborg’s jobs purge will result in massive job cuts across the state, with major cities and regional centres to bear the brunt of the cuts. The projected job losses in the coming 12 months are as follows:

·Far North Queensland – 812

·Gold Coast – 907

·Brisbane Region – 6800

·Toowoomba/Darling Downs – 641

·Sunshine Coast– 581

·North West Queensland– 125

·North Queensland – 692

·Western Queensland – 167

·Mackay/Whitsunday – 343

·Wide Bay/Burnett – 712

·Rockhampton/Fitzroy – 605