A public sector union has warned any moves by the federal government to outsource public service work to the private sector could cost taxpayers millions of dollars and hundreds of public servants their jobs.
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Finance Minister Mathias Cormann refused to comment further on his plans to close 175 government bodies on Saturday, despite Fairfax Media reporting more than 10 of these had already been scrapped.
Earlier in the day, Senator Cormann announced the agencies would be scrapped or amalgamated as part of the Mid Year Economic Forecast to bring staffing numbers back to 2007 levels.
In addition, the government is expected to flag moves to outsource public service responsibilities to the private sector during the update on Monday.
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood said outsourcing government services such as legal work or IT would cost taxpayers millions of dollars and lead to hundreds of job losses.
"We have already seen at least 8000 jobs go this year, the deepest cuts to the public service in over a decade, and the government has already forecast thousands more job to go," she said.
"It would be a very serious concern if these new announcements loaded further cuts on to that."
The government claimed taxpayers would save $539.5 million over four years as a result of the cuts, although the minister's office acknowledged this included savings already announced in the May budget.
Among the 175 government bodies identified on the hit list were four councils and committees established by the Council of Australian Governments which were scrapped a year ago and the position of infrastructure coordinator, which was abolished in September.
Liberal Senator Zed Seselja said he expected only a "very small number" of job cuts in the new announcements and none within the Australian Government Solicitor.
"In the immediate term, as a result of this move, those jobs will simply be shifted to the Attorney-General's Department and I don't believe there'll be any job losses as a result," Mr Seselja said.
Fraser MP Andrew Leigh and Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the ACT had worn enough public service cuts.
Mr Leigh called the new changes "blind, deaf and dumb ideology".
"[It] doesn't take account of the simple fact that the Australian public service is lean and efficient... people who have given their whole careers to bipartisan public service are being fired for no other reason than the Abbott government want to give billions to multinationals," he said.
Plans to shut down the Australian Government Solicitors which employ 590 people and combine it with the Attorney General's department have caused concern in the legal community.
Sydney lawyer George Newhouse said the move wouldn't result in budget savings and could compromise the independence of government solicitors.
