Canberra's High Standards at Risk: Over 100 Job Cuts Threaten Essential Services

It's always cause for alarm bells when the phrase "essential services" is invoked within the context of mass job cuts. And when one of the territory's main directorates announces it will cut more than 100 jobs to "manage current budget pressures", the outlook is grim.

In this case, the City and Environment Directorate—responsible for public transport, waste management, planning, development, and environmental sustainability—is on the chopping block. Director-General Dave Peffer's comment about continuing to deliver "essential services" is cause for concern.

Announcing the cuts on Thursday, Mr Peffer said between 3 and 5 per cent of the workforce, or roughly 130 roles, had to be cut to "ensure we can afford the workforce we have... while continuing to deliver essential services to the Canberra community."

These are the types of services visible in everyday life, and most likely to cause disruption to Canberra taxpayers. There's a good argument that the work already being done needs all the resourcing it can get—and more.

Canberra is a city of high standards, where performing the bare minimum of upkeep is never an option. Canberrans take pride in their city and are quick to point out substandard upkeep. As the city grows, keeping up with the changing landscape is ever more important. The notion that more can be done with less is questionable.

Addressing concerns that workers were already "under the pump," Mr Peffer maintained that "teams won't be expected to do more with less." He said they would work with affected teams to adjust workloads, reduce or remove activities, and ensure work reflects the available workforce.

While the ACT government is itself under pressure to manage budgets more responsibly, these reassurances seem to miss the point of the directorate's actual function—or the many functions it performs woven into Canberrans' everyday lives. Reducing workloads must inevitably mean reducing services, at a time when the city needs more services than ever.

Mr Peffer pointed out other budgetary steps, including reducing senior executives by 40 per cent and removing layers of management. But the regional secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union, Maddy Northam, said the cuts meant the city risked "falling behind on environmental and sustainable living matters which our community deeply values."

Economist Saul Eslake has already called out the ACT government for the "significant deterioration" of its financial position, spending big on services without generating necessary revenue. Cutting staff for essential services like waste management, grass cutting, and public transport isn't the logical response.