The public sector is well placed to respond to changing social, environmental and economic circumstances, and to enhance society’s capacity to pursue important goals such as justice, equity and environmental objectives. A high performing public sector is essential to meeting the needs of the Western Australian community now and in the future.
Employing nearly 140,000 people, from education, tourism, police and health, to child protection, justice, water and energy, it is essential Western Australia’s public sector is adequately resourced, and its employees valued. Successive state and federal governments have undermined our public service by privatising public services and assets and increasingly contracting the sector workforce.
It is a particularly unsettling time to work in the public service. The sector has suffered the cumulative effect of years of efficiency dividends, savings measures and recruitment freezes. Now our public servants have to contend with sweeping and poorly communicated Machinery of Government (or MOG) changes, and the uncertainty that surrounds these changes as they are rolled out with little consultation or planning.
Alison’s and the Greens’ vision for a strong and sustainable society includes a creative, independent and well-funded public sector. Alison will continue to staunchly defend the public sector to ensure public sector workers have stable and secure accommodation and that they are consulted and engaged in ongoing MOG changes.