The Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management is the latest public sector to fall victim of the Liberal-Lambie job cuts.

A leaked email from the department’s Secretary points to the state budget’s efficiency dividend as the culprit for the cuts, with $35 million to be slashed from the sector over the next four budgets.

Make no mistake, the ‘efficiency dividend’ represents cuts – cuts to jobs and cuts to services. The Government is asking our essential, front-line services to do the same job, with less staff and less resources.  

According to the leaked email, 80 per cent of the department’s costs are employee salaries, with the Secretary admitting that is where the primary focus of the strategy will be and where the majority of the cuts are going to occur.

Jeremy Rockliff and his government need to be upfront with Tasmanians about how many workers will have their jobs cut because of their catastrophic management of the state’s finances. The Premier also has a lot of questions to answer about how the safety of Tasmanians – who rely on the critical services provided by police, fire, and emergency personnel – will be affected because of these cuts.

Why should Tasmanians be the ones to suffer because of the Liberals’ bad financial management? And which department will be on the chopping block next?

This is another example of why Tasmania can’t afford the Liberal-Lambie Coalition.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer

Jen Butler MP
Shadow Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management