THE ACT government is calling for a Holden-style multimillion-dollar bailout package from the Commonwealth to help it survive an expected downturn caused by mass public service redundancies in the territory.
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Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said the impact of the Holden closure in South Australia would be smaller than that of the public service cuts in the ACT.
''I've got officers working on a structural adjustment package to present the Commonwealth government with and I've made no secret of that in my meetings with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister,'' Ms Gallagher said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced plans for a $100 million fund to help create jobs in the states affected by the closure of Holden in Australia. Holden announced that it would stop making cars in Australia by 2017. Its decision will put 2900 people out of work - 1600 now at the manufacturing plant in South Australia and 1300 in Victoria.
Tuesday's midyear economic and fiscal outlook contained a commitment to funding golden handshakes for up to 14,473 bureaucrats.
But Public Service Minister Eric Abetz has scoffed at talk of a bailout, saying his office had not received any representations from the ACT Chief Minister on this matter.
''If the Chief Minister wanted to be taken seriously she is going about it the wrong way,'' Senator Abetz said.
''As Ms Gallagher knows, the previous Labor government had committed to measures that would amount to the loss of some 14,500 Australian Public Service jobs which were unannounced, unbudgeted and hidden from the Australian public.
''By way of background approximately 40 per cent of the Australian Public Service is based in Canberra. The impact of Labor's hidden public service cuts will be felt nationwide.''
But Ms Gallagher said the ACT budget was already under pressure.
''A structural adjustment package is part of the conversation with the Commonwealth.
''It's like the Holden package the Prime Minister just pitched to the Holden workers; they lost several thousand jobs in Melbourne and Victoria and we are potentially losing many many more from a smaller jurisdiction. And there is an equal argument to the Commonwealth; if your decision is going to force this on our community what are you going to do to support us through that change?''
Ms Gallagher said there was precedent for a federal stimulus package.
''In 1996 the National Museum was the project, it drove jobs, it did get the economy moving along and that's the sort of discussion we need to have with the Commonwealth,'' she said.
