School support staff and prison officers are among more than 80,000 New South Wales (NSW) public sector workers in line for an immediate four percent pay rise. The state’s wages umpire signed off on the government’s deal with the Public Service Association for the pay bump and a 0.5 percent increase in superannuation. Public sector…

Services Australia, the agency that oversees Australia’s public health and social security schemes, Medicare and Centrelink, has dismissed community concerns over staffing levels. This follows allegations that tens of thousands of calls went unanswered leaving thousands of Australians without access to vital services. A spokesperson for Services Australia told The Epoch Times in an email that…

Tens of thousands of calls to one of Australia’s most important domestic government agencies are allegedly going unanswered, leaving thousands of Australians without access to vital everyday services. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has revealed that due to significant staffing shortfalls in Services Australia-the agency that oversees government programs like Centrelink, Medicare and Child…

The Commonwealth Public Service Union (CPSU) says the federal government should reinstate the Commonwealth Employment Services (CES) and put an end to the outsourcing of employment to recruitment agencies. The CES existed prior to 1998, when the Coalition government, under Prime Minister John Howard, privatised the bureau to a large number of community-based providers to “ensure good…

The Australian public service union has rejected the federal government’s pay rise offer, labelling it as “not good enough!” The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) voted overwhelmingly to reject the offer, with 86 percent of the 15,000 members who voted in the ballot choosing to turn down the government’s first offer. They had called…

The federal government has offered Commonwealth public servants a 10.5 percent pay rise over the next three years following negotiations. This is the largest pay rise to be offered to Australian Public Service (APS) employees in more than 10 years and will see public servants get a four percent rise in the first year, 3.5 percent in the…

Commentary Liz Truss, who may well become the next UK Conservative Party leader, has pledged to slash 350 woke jobs from the civil service, claiming such jobs “distract from delivering on the British people’s priorities.” It would take a lot more to rid the Australian government of ideologues working against the priorities of ordinary people….

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to face a barrage of questions when she addresses the media two days after the release of a damning integrity review. Professor Peter Coaldrake’s landmark report handed down late on Tuesday pointed to a tolerance of bullying within the state’s public service and a reluctance to deviate from the…

The New South Wales (NSW) government has announced a one-off $3,000 (US$2,200) payment to health employees in recognition of their frontline work during COVID-19. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the payment in addition to the new policy that will apply to industrial agreements struck from July 1, 2022. Public sector employees, including nurses, teachers, and…

The language skills of Chinese Australians are underused in Australia’s public service as the country faces an increasingly complex relationship with China, according to a Lowy Institute report released on Monday. Only 2.6 percent of Australian public service employees had Chinese heritage, compared to 5.6 percent of the general Australian population, and only 2.2 percent…