Barry welds the axe

Image via WikipediaWell thats the story in today's Telegraph:

THOUSANDS of public servants face the axe in a slash-and-burn state budget made even tighter by the global share meltdown.

Barry O'Farrell's money men Mike Baird and Greg Pearce flagged cuts of up to 25 per cent in the Coalition government's first budget on September 6, as they grapple with drastic revenue reductions since global stocks plummeted.

But an internal war has broken out, with the National Party fighting to stop cuts in Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner's 8000-strong Department of Trade and Investment.

It is understood Primary Industries is facing cuts to its budget of up to 25 per cent, with several grants programs to be axed.

One in three jobs in NSW Health's head office - up to 400 positions - are on the chopping block in a $30 million budget pruning, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Elements of the Department of Community Services budget will be outsourced at a lower cost to the private sector and many other public service jobs are set to be contracted out.The only area to be spared the axe will be transport infrastructure, in a sign the government wants to send a message it is serious on transport.

Mr Baird would not comment on the cuts but has confirmed that property tax revenues, GST receipts and general tax receipts are being drastically revised downwards in the wake of the new global financial troubles.

Despite this, the government still intends to deliver surpluses but is having to slash and burn to do so.....

Hope its true.. I have been saying for years most Public Service administration  jobs should be competitively outsourced. That's what companies do to much of their non core business such as share registry administration. Remember one of the great reforms of the Howard government was the privatisation of the old CES.