The Labour Party is criticising the Government’s proposed public service overhaul, saying its “arbitrary” target will hurt Kiwi families. 

Willis announced yesterday the Government would reduce the number of departments, increase artificial intelligence use, and cut public servants by nearly 9000 over the next three to five years. 

Labour’s spokesperson for public services Camilla Belich told Ryan Bridge the Government’s target of reducing public servants to about 1% of the population was “arbitrary”. 

“We have a significantly larger number of public servants than 1% at the moment.” 

Belich said it was unknown how the cuts would affect the services New Zealanders access. 

She said the overhaul would affect every region in the country. 

“That’s a significant number of jobs that the Government is going to cut at the same time as we’ve got decade-high levels of unemployment. 

“This is going to unfortunately hurt Kiwi families and also the businesses that they utilise.” 

Willis said the money saved will go into frontline roles, but Belich said there was not enough detail to prove that it would be beneficial. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

The Labour Party is criticising the Government’s proposed public service overhaul, saying its “arbitrary” target will hurt Kiwi families.&nbsp;
Willis announced yesterday the Government would reduce the number of departments, increase artificial intelligence use, and cut public servants by nearly 9000 over the next three to five years.&nbsp;
Labour’s spokesperson for public services Camilla Belich told Ryan Bridge the Government’s target of reducing public servants to about 1% of the population was “arbitrary”.&nbsp;
“We have a significantly larger number of public servants than 1% at the moment.”&nbsp;
Belich said it was unknown how the cuts would affect the services New Zealanders access.&nbsp;
She said the overhaul would affect every region in the country.&nbsp;
“That’s a significant number of jobs that the Government is going to cut at the same time as we’ve got decade-high levels of unemployment.&nbsp;
“This is going to unfortunately hurt Kiwi families and also the businesses that they utilise.”&nbsp;
Willis said the money saved will go into frontline roles, but Belich said there was not enough detail to prove that it would be beneficial.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Camilla Belich: Labour's Public Services Spokesperson on the Government's proposed overhaul

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/47439aec-8b49-43ff-88c2-b44f017e8edc/transcript

Retailers are feeling the pinch, with card spending plunging across the board. 

Stats NZ data reveals retail electronic card purchases dropped 1.3% last month. 

Kiwis are spending more overall compared to last year, but on cheaper food and are cutting back on buying items like clothing. 

Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young told Ryan Bridge margins are being squeezed and cash flows is tight. 

She says the cost of things like freight and rubbish collection are up, and retailers are bearing the brunt 

LISTEN ABOVE 

Retailers are feeling the pinch, with card spending plunging across the board.&nbsp;
Stats NZ data reveals retail electronic card purchases dropped 1.3% last month.&nbsp;
Kiwis are spending more overall compared to last year, but on cheaper food and are cutting back on buying items like clothing.&nbsp;
Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young told Ryan Bridge margins are being squeezed and cash flows is tight.&nbsp;
She says the cost of things like freight and rubbish collection are up, and retailers are bearing the brunt&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Carolyn Young: Retail NZ CEO on card spend data dropping by 1.3% in April

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/d0b4f437-b31d-4cc2-889d-b44f01848f48/transcript

New Zealand is benefiting from other countries' visa crackdowns as international students look elsewhere.

More than 92 thousand students were enrolled last year, up 11% on the year prior, but still well down on pre-Covid numbers.

Waikato University Vice-Chancellor Neil Quigley told Ryan Bridge it's not just politics in the United States that are leading people here.

He says visa policies in Canada, Australia, and the UK are changing too.

LISTEN ABOVE

New Zealand is benefiting from other countries' visa crackdowns as international students look elsewhere.
More than 92 thousand students were enrolled last year, up 11% on the year prior, but still well down on pre-Covid numbers.
Waikato University Vice-Chancellor Neil Quigley told Ryan Bridge it's not just politics in the United States that are leading people here.
He says visa policies in Canada, Australia, and the UK are changing too.
LISTEN ABOVE

Neil Quigley: Waikato University Vice-Chancellor on more than 92 thousand international students were enrolled last year

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/6aa97b81-b80c-45e0-b5fd-b44f012eb77f/transcript

We got the inevitable Grinch headlines from the media yesterday, powered by union panic. 

The public service knew this was coming. Or should have. Judith Collins, Nicola Willis, and Sir Brian Roche have been talking about this since they all got into office. 

So it's not shocking. 

It's also not a done deal, yet. 

All that's really happened, in the final leg of this Government's current term, is a few letters have been posted to some chief executives. 

They've been asked to mood-board some cuts to staffing. 

The savings will be banked, but there's no guarantee any of this will actually happen. Winston Peters was right about that yesterday - that's for the election to decide. 

Back to the unions and opposition complaints. 

Two basic questions:

If these proposed cuts are so bad, so evil, so destructive, so Armageddon, why was a workforce equivalent to about 1% of the population allowed under Helen Clark? 

Was she an evil Grinch, too? 

And how can you say the public will suffer, the sky will fall in, the clouds will gather, when you know not what jobs are actually being cut yet?

How are you to know there aren't reasonable back-office savings to be made? 

We're told the money will instead go towards the frontline in health and education.

To be fair, the same argument could be tipped on its head. Without knowing what's being cut, how can the Government claim no services will be impacted? 

The proof of that pudding will be in the eating, but remember the job of figuring out which jobs to axe, without affecting us, the taxpayers, is in the hands of the very people whose jobs are on the line in the first place. 

If we are to trust them, as the unions and opposition clearly do, should we not trust they'll know how to be surgical and only trim the fat and not the bone? 

We got the inevitable Grinch headlines from the media yesterday, powered by union panic.&nbsp;
The public service knew this was coming. Or should have. Judith Collins, Nicola Willis, and Sir Brian Roche have been talking about this since they all got into office.&nbsp;
So it's not shocking.&nbsp;
It's also not a done deal, yet.&nbsp;
All that's really happened, in the final leg of this Government's current term, is a few letters have been posted to some chief executives.&nbsp;
They've been asked to mood-board some cuts to staffing.&nbsp;
The savings will be banked, but there's no guarantee any of this will actually happen. Winston Peters was right about that yesterday - that's for the election to decide.&nbsp;
Back to the unions and opposition complaints.&nbsp;
Two basic questions:
If these proposed cuts are so bad, so evil, so destructive, so Armageddon, why was a workforce equivalent to about 1% of the population allowed under Helen Clark?&nbsp;
Was she an evil Grinch, too?&nbsp;
And how can you say the public will suffer, the sky will fall in, the clouds will gather, when you know not what jobs are actually being cut yet?
How are you to know there aren't reasonable back-office savings to be made?&nbsp;
We're told the money will instead go towards the frontline in health and education.
To be fair, the same argument could be tipped on its head. Without knowing what's being cut, how can the Government claim no services will be impacted?&nbsp;
The proof of that pudding will be in the eating, but remember the job of figuring out which jobs to axe, without affecting us, the taxpayers, is in the hands of the very people whose jobs are on the line in the first place.&nbsp;
If we are to trust them, as the unions and opposition clearly do, should we not trust they'll know how to be surgical and only trim the fat and not the bone?&nbsp;

Ryan Bridge: The public service cuts didn't come out of nowhere

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/148a08a0-711d-457c-8eba-b44f012d1ca2/transcript

Camilla Belich: Labour's Public Services Spokesperson on the Government's proposed overhaul

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