CPSU

In a recent submission to the ACT 2020-21 budget, the Community and Public Sector Union called for the government to reduce insecure work arrangements in the public service, noting that 24% of all ACT public sector workers were employed on a non-ongoing basis. In health and education, this amounts to thousands of employees without the security of a full-time job and everything that goes with it.

The Victorian government’s decision to put the brakes on pay rises and agency budgets is “inexplicable” after the state’s impressive economic performance in recent years, according to a progressive think-tank commissioned by the union to make the case against austerity. ]

The federal government’s decision to raise the National Disability Insurance Agency’s public service staffing levels and the appointment of new chief executive Martin Hoffman has been met with cautious optimism from groups representing people with disability and service providers.

The Community and Public Sector Union’s governing council has appointed industrial lawyer Melissa Donnelly as its acting national secretary until elections for all of the union’s elected offices are held at the end of 2020. Her appointment follows the resignation of Nadine Flood for health reasons, which was announced in mid-August. The union informs us […]

Federal public service leaders want the official FOI guidelines changed to support their standard practice of shielding the names and contact details of staff below senior executive level wherever possible, with many agencies citing harrowing tales of harassment and abuse staff members have suffered after their identities were released in FOI documents.

The first independently determined pay rise for Victorian MPs has been widely linked to the government’s pay negotiations with public sector workers, as it means ministers get a much more generous pay rise than they would like to give. Negotiations are underway between the Andrews government and the Community and Public Sector Union over a […]

Western Australian public servants have overwhelmingly voted to take what they can get from the McGowan government now and bide their time before taking up the fight against capped pay rises in the lead-up to the next state election in 2021.

The High Court has ruled that federal public servants have no right to political expression that overrides their legal obligations to be impartial and uphold the values, integrity, and good reputation of the Australian Public Service.

Two new parliamentary inquiries will look into the privatisation, outsourcing and service delivery of various government programs that have implications on public servants and the wider community. One inquiry will look at service delivery in the visa and citizenship system as well as Centrelink’s robodebt system; the other inquiry will examine government contracts with the Big Four accountants.

Existing members of the Victorian Public Service will get first crack at new government jobs that come up before they are advertised externally.

Tasmania’s opposition has called for clarity around where state service job cuts will fall, while WA’s austerity-focused government faces accusations of unfairness.

A re-elected Morrison government would aim to extract $1.5 billion from departmental budgets over four years, “building to $5 billion over the medium term” to more than offset new spending commitments, according to an election-eve financial statement.

After New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s post-election cabinet’s first meeting today, it might not convene again for a fortnight.

The Commonwealth public sector workforce shrank over the past year in net terms, despite the last budget suggesting it would grow slightly.