Page 2262 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 9 May 2012
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important to focus on what the public service does. We see that a lot of this Canberra bashing and this lack of sympathy or empathy when cuts come to Canberra jobs, public servant jobs, is because people do not appreciate what they contribute, and not just to the life and the economy of Canberra. In fact, they contribute right across Australia—whether you are in a city, in another state, whether you are rural or whether you are remote. Federal public servants design and deliver programs. They design and deliver services—they do not design and deliver policies—that are about benefiting and supporting people right across this very large country.
It appears that there just is not that understanding that a federal public servant is also a real person, a real person with a real family, a real person who also has to pay those bills and keep food on the table and keep a roof over their families’ heads. That seems to be forgotten. I was listening to the radio this morning when someone pointed out that if it is cuts to other industries across the nation, there seems to be a greater understanding of the impact. But when it comes to federal public servants, it is almost as though they are not real people and that it does not matter at the end of the day.
Of course, we know that it does. We would like to think that more Australians out there understood the contribution and the importance of the federal public service. I come from a family of federal public servants. My maternal grandfather arrived here from Melbourne in the late 1920s. He was transferred with the Customs department. Many of my family members, including my father, have been public servants. In fact, members of my family still work in the federal public service today.
I appreciate the contribution they make, not just to this city but, as I said, to the whole nation. This really does need to be understood. I guess it is a hard thing to be able to get out that story to the rest of Australia when we know that Canberra bashing has for some time been unfortunately a bit of a national pastime.
This was a bit of an issue that has been raised by even Robyn Archer, our fantastic organiser for the centenary of Canberra, who spoke about this issue and urged all of us to be champions. We do need to be champions. We do need to get out there and to make sure we spread that word across Australia that not only is Canberra a fantastic, vibrant, exciting community but also that one of our major sectors, the federal public service, does such incredible work and also provides great opportunities for people who do want an exciting and engaging career.
We do rely on the federal public service for our services and, of course, the economic impact that they have on the territory. We do all understand the economic value that the federal public service has to the ACT. Certainly this is very significant. I would also like to note the value, as I said before, to the broader community. We are a public service town. Whilst we all agree that we should be looking to diversify our economic activity, and I have spoken extensively about the opportunities that the green economy provides for the ACT, the reality is that for the short term we need to recognise our reliance on the federal public service and not only those jobs and the incomes that people get, and therefore the incomes they spend in our town, but also the services that are contracted through the federal government.
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