Concerns over plans for public service cuts

The government can expect a fight over cuts to public services, unions say.

Finance Minister Bill English yesterday warned that some public services, which he dubbed "nice-to-haves," were likely to be cut as the government reduced spending.

In a speech to the Institute of Public Administration, Mr English said the government intended to hasten public service reforms.

"Something has to give and that has to be lower-value activities the government is currently funding," he said.

"This is not a time we can afford to indulge in a whole lot of nice-to-haves even though, for sections of the population, they feel the loss of those services or funding streams.

"The alternative is that nice-to-haves come at the expense of necessities and at the expense of fairness to people with more need."

Public Service Association national secretary Brenda Pilott was at Mr English's speech and said no good news had come out of it.

"Statements that the pace of change was going to accelerate and that there'd be an unspecified number of job cuts -- it's pretty bad news really."

Ms Pilott said the public service had already lost 2000 jobs, and it was clear there was going to be a lot more restructuring.

"What we're seeing in the UK is savage cuts to the public services, to frontline services, as they're received by citizens. I wonder whether we are not, however, getting to that point in New Zealand.

"It seems impossible to me that the public service won't soon have to cut back on services and then we'll see a public reaction, whether it's in the style of London or not I'm not sure."

Maritime Union general secretary Joe Fleetwood said New Zealand needed strong, well-resourced public services and state investment to rebuild from natural disasters and to tackle unemployment.

"The Finance Minister has said that he will cut so-called 'nice to have' services. The Maritime Union says that now is the time to reverse the tax cuts that are 'nice to have' for those on upper incomes, like John Key and Bill English."

The union would play a leading role in defending public services and workers from any attacks by the government, he said.

Labour state services spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said National claimed backroom functions were being cut to fund frontline services: "The reality is they are simply cutting services in order to cover for their failure to get the economy growing".

Green MP Keith Locke also said the public sector was bearing the brunt of poor economic management.

"Last year's tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders were unaffordable. The government has had to borrow to pay for them... The National government's only economic plan seems to be cutting jobs."

Mr English would not specify to media what areas would be cut or merged.

"An example of a nice-to-have would have been the hobby classes that were paid for through vote education. We, a couple of years ago, took away the money for that," he said.

Mr English said there were continuing discussions about where fat could be cut but indicated that the Working for Families packages for higher-income earners, and the 2025 Taskforce, an advisory group working towards closing the income gap between New Zealand and Australia, might qualify as non-essential.