I can’t help noticing that during the current Australian election there’s been a lot of focus on the loss of 3000 or so jobs in Geelong at the Ford Motor Company. Yet, at the same time, both the major parties have announced a firm policy of slashing the industry in a country town located between Sydney and Melbourne.
And nobody seems to be batting an eyelid. I think it’s because nobody likes Public Servants. As a former Public Servant myself, I can sort of see why. In the past, there was certainly a lot of fat in the APS, but over the last two decades, it’s trimmed down a lot – and it’s changed to meet the political needs of a new generation.
Markedly unlike the Ford – which has hardly evolved at all to meet changing needs.
Today’s APS member is typically very focused on doing their job properly, because they know that when things go wrong, in the best case, somebody might miss a pension payment (DHS) but in the worst case, somebody might get killed (DoHA, Defence.)
People point to the supporting industries – the parts makers and maintainers affected by Ford closing, as well as the effect on the town of Geelong. I can tell you that there is a flourishing support industry for the APS. It ranges from cleaners to consultants, trainers to travel agents and covers all the professions in between. When the last round of savage cuts happened (Howard, in 1996) it took the Canberra economy three years to recover from the economic impact.
Why is the media not covering this issue? Do they hate public servants too? Perhaps it will be a more fruitful story after the election when the grief begins.
