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

The coalition recognises that public servants have families, they have mortgages and they have bills. The government is already having to manage a reduction of 14,500 Public Service jobs as a result of the former Labor government's largely secret cuts. Each one of those 14,500 is a human being, probably a family breadwinner. Labor's administrative and financial mismanagement shattered the APS morale and imposed ever-increasing efficiency dividends on the Public Service, now resulting in minimal capacity for wage increases. In the bargaining process, the coalition government is working methodically to turn this around again, to ensure that we do have a sustainable Public Service, free from the fear of constant contraction and chaos.