Greens promise cancellation of 'Luxon’s public service cuts', intended to save $2.4 billion

The Green Party is promising a full reversal of the Government’s public service baseline savings - a move intended to cut/save $2.4 billion over four years with the loss of nearly 9000 jobs.

Co-leader Marama Davidson pledged on Thursday to “cancel Luxon’s public service cuts and instead invest and support the sector.”

"The Greens are the only party campaigning on no public service cuts,” she said.

"Instead of investing in our public service, and the people who bring their skills, talent and dedication to the sector, the National Party is proposing cutting another 8,700 more roles and replacing them with AI."

Green Party public service costings

At May's Budget, the Government announced its plan of baseline reductions in the public service to free up $2.4 billion, a reduction of almost 9000 workers in three years and a reduction in the number of agencies. Baseline savings have been set at 2% in the coming year for most agencies, followed by 5% each year, for two years after. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said at the time the funds would go into health and education.

Green Party public service costings per ministry

Labour's fiscal plan reverses half of the first round of cuts, and cancels the second round. 

Asked how they would do this, as ministries have formalised plans to incorporate the cuts and have put forward designs on merging the public services, Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds told interest.co.nz, "actually, the Government, the National Party, should reveal where those cuts are..."

"That would make it therefore easier for us to be able to basically look at how that is implemented, but where we're going with the costing is based off the pre-election fiscal update."

Green Party leader Chlöe Swarbrick, in an interview with interest.co.nz earlier this year, said her view on the Government's workforce reduction plan was to; "try and take a step back and go sensibly and practically, what are we actually trying to achieve with the bureaucracy in the public service, and then how do we actually equip the public service, be that with the personnel or with the structure necessary, to achieve those things?"

"What is the role of the public service that outlives the partisan chops and changes of the politics of the day?"

If she would be open to looking at the current government's public service structure proposal, Swarbrick said they would, "absolutely."

"For us it just comes back to the really basic premise of what are we trying to achieve" - part of that, she said, was dealing with the "capacity that's been whittled away, but also morale is pretty bloody gnarly."