Kiwis need quality services not Ryall’s PR spin
New Zealanders deserve efficient quality public services not the PR spin the Government is using to try and justify cuts, Labour’s State Services spokesperson Grant Robertson said today.
“State Services Minister Tony Ryall is playing with numbers and made up definitions with his capping policy, but in reality he is cutting back public services,” Grant Robertson said.
“It is inevitable that the public will notice a reduction in service with these cuts.
“Mr Ryall says that more resources are going to the frontline, but we have seen cuts to biosecurity staff at the border, CYFS staff, the school library services and regional fisheries offices. These are all frontline services that people across New Zealand rely on.
“National can’t even provide a definition of what its ‘frontline’ is. During the Select Committee process Labour MPs tried in vain to get a definition of the ‘frontline’ from various Government departments.
“The reality is National has cut 1500 public sector jobs. Every one of those jobs was held by a breadwinner for a family, this at a time when National said it wanted to keep Kiwis in jobs.
“All New Zealanders want their public services to be as efficient as possible and properly resourced to offer effective services.
But what they are getting are indiscriminate cuts for political reasons. National are taking the accountant's approach to public services, rather than working with public servants and taxpayers to develop public services that deliver for ordinary New Zealanders.
“National’s promise to cap not cut public sector jobs and move resources from the backroom to the frontline has again been outed as pure political spin.”
