Have public service cuts hit ‘the front line’?

Thursday, 2 May 2024

The Government promised its cost cutting wouldn’t impact “the front line”. But what exactly is “the front line” - and is it intact? Glenn McConnell investigates.

Since the coalition Government came to power, about 3500 public service roles have been put on the chopping block. More job cuts are expected.

While Public Service Minister Nicola Willis has insisted all cuts would be to “the back room” and not “front line”, some argue the cuts are impacting core roles. And one minister now concedes the lines between the “front” and “back office” are blurry.

Child welfare investigators impacted

For instance, Stuff can reveal that Oranga Tamariki has proposed merging its small but influential International Child Protection Unit. Just four people work in that team, and restructure documents seen by Stuff showed the ministry planned to disestablish its manager and merge it with the child adoptions teams.

This unit investigated child labour exploitation. They successfully stopped Zirka Circus from keeping children in “squalid” conditions, and assisted in the prosecution of a man convicted of enslavement and human trafficking.

Labour’s children’s spokesperson, Willow-Jean Prime, questioned Children’s Minister Karen Chhour in the House about this proposal - but Chhour said she couldn’t comment. She has also refused Stuff’s requests to speak during “bridge run”, when other ministers make themselves available to media. Oranga Tamariki also refused to comment.

Prime said the unit’s work would be worse off if it merged with the adoptions unit.

“Dismantling this team risks taking our eyes off these highly sensitive issues where children’s well-being is at grave risk,” she said.

“What’s even more concerning is the Minister’s comments in the house yesterday, where she was unable to give any details about what this will mean.”

The blurry line between front and back offices

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says there is not always a “clear distinction” between the back and front office.

The Department of Internal Affairs has confirmed a proposal to cut 59 roles from its “regulations and policy branch”. Despite the ambiguous name, its staff work directly in crime prevention and investigation.

A department spokesperson confirmed workers investigating money laundering and child exploitation were caught up in that proposal.

The child exploitation unit is known colloquially amongst law enforcement and the department as “pedo hunters”, who work with police in New Zealand and internationally to target child exploitation online. The money laundering team works to crackdown on terrorist and organised crime funding.

Asked about that proposal, van Velden refused to go into detail. But she said it could be hard defining the “front line” and “back office”.

“I mean, clearly there are parts of DIA that people would consider to be front line… but there is no clear distinction I believe within DIA about what is front line and what is back line or behind the scenes work,” she told Stuff.

She said the job cuts to those teams were only proposed - and consultation was ongoing.

Dog trainers, lawyers, and education support caught in restructures

Other departments have also faced questions over what staff are “front line”.

Customs confirmed a proposal to disestablish roles including dog trainers and senior customs officers.

Teachers unions have raised concern about a large restructure proposal, disestablishing 565 roles at the Ministry of Education. While the ministry and Education Minister Erica Stanford said no child or teacher would be impacted by that proposal, the unions said it would put more pressure on teachers and learning support workers who may lose administrative and curriculum support.

And at the NZ Law Society has raised alarm bells over Oranga Tamariki lawyers being labelled “back office”.

Its legal department is called on to urgently respond to child safety concerns and abuse in state care, and former Children’s Minister Tracey Martin said the ministry’s social workers could not function effectively without them.

The Government’s cost cutting drive

Stuff’s ongoing reporting of public sector changes shows about 5% of the public service have had their jobs disestablished as part of a cost cutting drive.

These cuts have come as no surprise. The National and ACT parties campaigned clearly on cutting roles out of the public service.

Before the election, ACT leader David Seymour said he wanted at least 10,000 jobs cut from the public service. National’s Nicola Willis promised “bureaucracy savings” would help fund tax cuts.

But Willis argued National would only target “the back office”, meaning the public shouldn’t notice any decrease in public services as a result.

“We're going to cut the waste, we're going to reduce the back room bureaucracy, and we're going to focus on the front line,” she said.

Most government departments have been asked to save either 6.5% or 7.5% of their budgets.