Swan hits out at Newman over cuts
TEARING away vital frontline services that people rely on and undermining pay and conditions of workers were the "very definition of a false economy", Treasurer Wayne Swan wrote on Sunday.
After a week of public service job cuts in health, education and other areas, Mr Swan has hit out at Premier Campbell Newman's argument that job cuts are needed in Queensland because of the state of the budget.
"Making huge and indiscriminate cuts to schools and hospitals, tearing away vital frontline services that people rely on and undermining the pay and conditions of workers are the very definitions of a false economy," Mr Swan wrote in his weekly economic update.
"They are no way to deliver lasting prosperity.
"He wrote that managing government finances should not be about an ideology about the size of role of the public service, but about "putting in place the right policies and programs that reward hard work".
"Australia's experience over the past few years demonstrates that strict budget discipline doesn't need to come at the expense of critical investments in our infrastructure, in our institutions and in our people," he wrote.
