Public servant ‘terrified’ job on the line again after government announces more cuts

Source: Radio New Zealand

A public servant affected by the sweeping cuts of two years ago is “terrified” their job will soon be on the line again.

The government plans to slash public service jobs by about 14 percent over the next three years in a shake-up it says will deliver $2.4 billion of savings.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said about 8700 jobs would be gone by mid-2029 – returning the public sector to the equivalent of about 1 percent of the population, which it had been historically.

Asher Wilson-Goldman – who was formerly a Green Party candidate – was made redundant from a public sector job in 2024, and it took him about three months to find work.

“I’m just really feeling for everyone who’s going to now have months, probably, of waiting to see if their heads are on the chopping block, and it’s a really awful feeling,” he said.

“Obviously being made redundant sucks, but it’s that wait, not knowing what’s happening … waiting to see if your role’s proposed to be cut, waiting to see if your friends and colleagues are, survivors’ guilt if you do manage to escape the list this time, but also worrying that there’s going to be another one coming up soon, it’s just awful,” he said.

Morale was already low and news of more cuts would “tank it”, Wilson-Goldman said.

“Public servants across the country have been under huge pressure to deliver more with less and less and less, and the hits just keep coming in.”

He was about to finish up a contract in a government department, so was on the hunt for work again.

Last time around the job market was rough, given so many people were looking at the same time, he said.

“I’m a qualified person with lots of really great experience, but there were lots of other qualified people with lots of really great experience also looking.

“When you get rid of so many people at once, it just becomes impossible, and for a lot of people, they just go, ‘well, if there’s no future here, why would I stay?’”

Another public servant, who RNZ has agreed not to name, had their role disestablished in 2024.

After frantically applying for other work during the three-month notice period, they were “privileged” to be placed into another role as part of the restructure.

But “it was a pretty terrible experience”, they said, citing poor communication and a lack of transparency from management.

That had seen them looking for other work ever since.

“That’s pretty difficult … you’re going up against just numbers and numbers and numbers of people, so in order to really stand out, it’s kind of a stab in the dark … recruiters are overbooked, they’ve got next to nothing.”

The staffer was “terrified” of further restructures.

“The last transition was really, really difficult … it’s pretty scary to be honest.”

They urged public sector bosses who would inevitably have to make cuts to have “humanity” during the process.

Job numbers to be reported ‘publicly and transparently’ – minister

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the overhaul would “reduce the number of government departments, increase the use of AI and other digital tools, and deliver significant savings”.

She explained ministers would be tracking progress on job numbers each quarter, and the Public Service Commission would publish them “publicly and transparently”.

This practice had already been happening.

The most recent workforce data published by the Public Service Commission showed there were 63,657 full-time equivalent staff as at 31 December 2025, an increase of 0.8 percent from the September 2025 update.

Willis said it would be up to government agencies to put forward proposals.

“Some of these reductions will, of course, take place through natural attrition. Ultimately, what the restructuring plans are is yet to be set out, because we don’t have the merger proposals on the table yet.”

The changes the government is proposing will only affect the core public service.

Thirteen government departments are exempt from the baseline savings exercise: the New Zealand Defence Force, Police, Oranga Tamariki, Corrections, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education (excluding tertiary functions), the Government Communications Security Bureau, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, the Education Review Office, Crown Law Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Serious Fraud Office.

Parliamentary agencies, like the Parliamentary Service and Ombudsman are also excluded.

Some ministries expected to find savings were already facing cuts, as they get absorbed into the new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions, and Transport.

The ministry, nicknamed MCERT, would become operational on 1 July, and would take on the functions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry for the Environment, and the local government functions of the Department of Internal Affairs.

Legislation to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment is set to have its third and final reading in Parliament on Wednesday.

The legislation is necessary to form MCERT, because unlike the other ministries being absorbed into the new ministry, MfE was specifically established by statute. The others can be disestablished through an Order in Council.

EMA unsurprised by cuts

The Employers and Manufacturers Association said everyone is “in the same boat” when it comes to public sector job cuts.

Head of advocacy Alan McDonald told RNZ it was not a surprising decision.

“Everybody is in the same boat at the moment, they’re all looking at their operations and how they can trim costs and re-shape their businesses… for when things recover. I don’t think the public service is any different really,” he said.

McDonald said many of those jobs would likely be in Wellington.

“I’d say it’ll have a bit of an impact on Wellington and any of the other centres where there’s significant cuts. It’s always a last resort, no one likes doing it – but the fact is the tanks are pretty empty so if they can repurpose some of that cash into something else that’s great,” he said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/public-servant-terrified-job-on-the-line-again-after-government-announces-more-cuts/