Bigger not better

The potential for job losses is a difficult time for workers.

Redundancies, unless they’re voluntary, are hard on the people forced out of their jobs and unpleasant for their colleagues, many of whom will be thinking there but for the grace of god go I,  and worrying if they will be next.

No one with a shred of empathy should underestimate the impact of the cuts to the public service, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to happen.

The bureaucracy ballooned under Labour but while the number of public servants increased dramatically there was no corresponding improvement in public services. Worse, in a very clear illustration that bigger isn’t better, many public services went backwards.

Even if the economy wasn’t in such a mess, the bloated bureaucracy would have to be trimmed. When the government accounts are in such a dire state the need for cuts is necessary and urgent.

That’s very tough on the people affected but sympathy for them can’t get in the way of the need for the cuts.

And contrary to cries from unions and the Opposition that these cuts are brutal, the Taxpayers’ Union puts them into perspective:

Watch as we unveil an art installation in the Beehive, illustrating the ‘brutal’ staffing cuts within the Government relative to the overall Public Service workforce.

We cannot continue down the path of taxpayers paying more but getting less. pic.twitter.com/nD0ZQXP4qi

— New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union (@TaxpayersUnion) May 27, 2024

Labour did less with more, the National-led government has no choice but to do more with less.