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Key Points
- Peter Dutton has used a speech to attack cultural diversity positions within Australia’s public services sector.
- The push has been called Donald Trump-like, with critics saying it shows a lack of understanding.
- Trump has directed US federal agencies to fire staff hired for diversity programs.
Australians aren’t better served by cultural diversity roles in the public service, Opposition leader Peter Dutton says, as he takes another leaf from the Donald Trump playbook.
Dutton used a major speech on Friday to criticise cultural diversity jobs in the public sector and pledged to slash the number of public servants if elected.
“I have not met an Australian across the country — I was in Alice Springs over the last couple of days — who can tell me their lives are better off because the government’s employed 36,000 public servants in Canberra,” he said.
“I have met people … who say their lives are worse off because of the extra bureaucratic red tape that comes with the employment of 36,000 more public servants.”
He took aim specifically at “cultural diversity and inclusion adviser positions”.
“Such positions … do nothing to improve the lives of everyday Australians,” he said.
“They’re certainly not … frontline service roles that can make a difference to people’s lives.”
More money would be spent on frontline services that make a difference, including doctors, national security and intelligence, Dutton said.
Peter Dutton has attacked “cultural diversity and inclusion adviser positions” in Australia’s public service. Source: AAP / Russell Freeman
Comments criticised as Trumpian
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly said staff with lived experience — such as people with disability or Indigenous people — meant the government could better reflect the community and deliver essential services more effectively.
“Today’s comments from Peter Dutton are straight from the Trump playbook, demonstrating his lack of ideas, and his lack of understanding of modern workplaces,” Donnelly said in a statement.
What Mr Dutton fails to comprehend is that a workforce that reflects the public they serve is better able to deliver essential services effectively.”
Donnelly said while inclusion and diversity may be “easy targets” for Dutton and Trump, “for people who access public services, the value of having someone who speaks their language and understands their experience is immeasurable”.
President Donald Trump has and axe jobs relating to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.
Billionaire Elon Musk is also , which is tasked with streamlining spending.
Following the department’s announcement, Dutton appointed Opposition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to the role of government efficiency spokeswoman.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has criticised the Opposition’s pledge to axe public servants, arguing it would have tangible impacts including waiting times for things like veterans’ pensions.
On top of thousands of people losing their jobs, Gallagher questioned where the cuts would come from, citing Labor increasing resourcing to process visa backlogs, social payment claims and border enforcement.
The Opposition has also started using the slogan “are you better off than you were three years ago?”, replicating the rhetoric Trump used in his successful presidential campaign.
Price — a leading ‘No’ campaigner for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum — has vowed to audit spending on Indigenous programs.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been appointed by Peter Dutton as the Opposition’s government efficiency spokeswoman. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
She denied the Opposition was copying the Trump playbook, saying her push to improve Indigenous spending efficiency should be applied to other areas.
She criticised departments spending money on Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies, saying it didn’t improve the lives of Indigenous people.
Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the decision was disappointing and showed the Opposition was focused on culture wars.
“It really is quite disappointing, actually — we know that the opposition leader walked out on the apology, he won’t stand in front of the Indigenous flag and now he doesn’t want elders doing Welcome to Country,” she said.
“We have to really ask the question, where is the Indigenous plan for the future with the Coalition and with Senator Price?”
