The Morrison government plans to slash $150 million from the Home Affairs staff budget, prompting fears the national security agency intends to axe thousands of workers.
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The department confirmed the spending cut was due to "ceasing measures" but would not say what parts of its operations would be discontinued.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Thursday promoted the government's record on border protection and said the Coalition's policies would remain unchanged if re-elected on May 18.
However figures buried in last month's federal budget show the department's employee benefits payments, which include staff wages and salaries, will drop by $150 million in the year to June 2021. The money is not restored over the forward estimates.
The Community and Public Sector Union said on conservative estimates, the cut equates to a loss of about 2,200 departmental jobs within four years - 15 per cent of the total workforce.
That figure is based on costs provided in the budget papers and assumes a 2 per cent rise in annual staffing expenses.
The department said in a statement that employee benefits will rise by $20 million next financial year. But it conceded that overall departmental expenses, including employee benefits and supplier costs, were projected to fall in the year to June 2021 and over the forward estimates.
The department would not explain how this saving would be achieved, saying only it was "attributable to numerous ceasing measures and estimate variations".
It said the four years of the forward estimates reflected funding "at a point in time" and would be updated by the government in future.
Nine newspapers have previously reported how Home Affairs has been under significant budget pressure this financial year following cost overruns. Boat patrols in northern Australia were cut to save money on fuel and staff numbers at airports and other ports were slashed over Christmas.
The wide-ranging portfolio covers national security, border control, immigration and federal law enforcement, among other functions.
Border security has been less prominent in this federal election campaign than in previous elections. Mr Dutton, who is battling to retain his marginal Brisbane seat of Dickson, on Thursday sought to elevate the issue by claiming Labor's pledge to accept New Zealand's offer to take in 150 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island would encourage people smugglers and "the boats will restart".
Labor has given conditional support to a lifetime ban on the refugees entering Australia.
The CPSU largely attributed the fall in wages spending to the Coalition's plan to outsource visa processing, including development of a digital platform to process applications for temporary visas. The contract is currently out for tender.
Labor and the union vehemently oppose the plan, claiming public servants will be sacked, personal data may be compromised and the integrity of Australia's borders weakened.
The union's national secretary Nadine Flood said the figures proved that the "dangerously flawed" visa plan would lead to wide-scale job losses.
"The government has been trying to keep this scheme quiet, knowing that the Australian public hate the privatisation of public assets and functions, especially one as critical as deciding who gets to come into our country," she said.
A Labor campaign spokesman called on the government to "explain any cuts they're going to inflict on the Australian Border Force".
The department said the visa processing changes were "not an exercise about cutting jobs" and it wanted to redeploy affected staff. It is unclear how this would be achieved under the projected fall in wages spending.
- SMH/The Age
