In the long story of how a democracy pays for its own machinery, Victoria's public servants have reached a familiar turning point: a union that once worked hand in glove with Labor has decided its loyalty depends on whether the government will stop shrinking the people who keep the state running. Ahead of the 28 November election, the Community and Public Sector Union has withdrawn its backing, citing roughly 1,000 administrative roles cut after the Silver review, more than 200 further restructures, and $1.2bn spent on consultants over eight years. The government counters that the cuts saved $
Public servants' union withdraws support from Victorian Labor, citing job cuts and $1.2bn in consultant spending
Privatisation by stealth
Mark
Why does it matter that this union isn't even formally tied to Labor?
Mimi
Because it has worked closely with the party before. This isn't a rival camp turning; it's a usual partner saying it can't continue without a no-job-cuts commitment.
Luke
Worth noting, though, that 'not backing' isn't the same as campaigning against. The CPSU endorses no party.
Mark
Right, it's a pledge campaign. But it does point to the Greens and Victorian Socialists.
Mimi
Yes, it highlights that both oppose job cuts and privatisation of public assets, without endorsing them.
Mark
What about the $1.2bn figure?
Luke
That's the union's own analysis, built from government annual reports since 2017-18, across 10 departments. It's a total over years, not one year's spend. The biggest single year was about $86m at the energy and environment department.
Mimi
And the government counters with $4bn in savings from the Silver review changes, saying frontline roles were spared.
Mark
So who's right about job losses?
Luke
The roughly 1,000 VPS roles cut is the government's own account. The 200-plus restructures and the claim of pay cuts come from Hanna; I can't tell you how many people that covers.
Mimi
The Coalition's freeze is the backdrop: $22bn over a decade, which is the opposition's figure.
Mark
And Carroll's answer?
Mimi
He pointed to his union membership since he was 14, rather than to any job guarantee.
Der Puls
- A union that has long worked alongside Labor has declared it will not back the government at the 28 November poll unless job cuts are ruled out.
- Consultant spending of $1.2bn across ten departments has become the symbol of what the union calls privatisation by stealth.
- Electrical, firefighting, community services and education unions are all pulling back or turning their advertising against Labor.
- The Coalition's proposed back-office hiring freeze offers the union little comfort, leaving the government short of campaign muscle weeks before voting.
In the long story of how a democracy pays for its own machinery, Victoria's public servants have reached a familiar turning point: a union that once worked hand in glove with Labor has decided its loyalty depends on whether the government will stop shrinking the people who keep the state running. Ahead of the 28 November election, the Community and Public Sector Union has withdrawn its backing, citing roughly 1,000 administrative roles cut after the Silver review, more than 200 further restructures, and $1.2bn spent on consultants over eight years. The government counters that the cuts saved $4bn and spared the frontline, while the opposition offers a hiring freeze that the union regards as no refuge at all. What is really being contested is who the public service is for, and whether its quiet expertise can be reduced without something essential going missing.
Victoria's public servants union, the Community and Public Sector Union, has decided it will not back Labor at the state election on 28 November. Its Victorian secretary, Jiselle Hanna, says the working relationship with the party has reached its limit: the government must commit to no public service job cuts, or the union cannot support it.
The Victorian public service is a smaller, administrative part of the wider public sector, with about 58,000 people. After an independent review led by Helen Silver, around 1,000 roles were cut, and the government says this produced $4bn in savings without touching frontline work. Hanna says more than 200 restructures followed, with redundancies and pay cuts, and that secure public careers have given way to precarious work.
The union's analysis of annual reports shows $1.2bn spent on consultants across ten departments since 2017-18. Hanna accepts that budgets must be balanced but argues that cutting staff only pushes work outside, and she points to the many jobs public servants do, from directing firefighters to analysing forensic evidence and developing school curricula.
The Coalition's promised hiring freeze on back-office roles does not satisfy her. The union has launched a pledge campaign asking voters to reject candidates who propose job cuts, though it endorses no party. Other unions are also stepping back, and Carroll has responded that he has fought for workers all his life.
Victoria's public servants union has decided it will not back Labor at the state election on 28 November. The Community and Public Sector Union will announce the decision on Wednesday, and its reason is stark: the government has been cutting public service jobs while spending $1.2bn on consultants.
The union's Victorian branch is not formally affiliated with Labor, but it has worked closely with the party in the past. Its secretary, Jiselle Hanna, told Guardian Australia that has reached its limit. If Ben Carroll's government won't commit to no job cuts in the public service, she said, the union cannot support him.
The cuts she refers to fall on the Victorian public service, a smaller, largely administrative part of the wider public sector. As of June 2025 it employed some 58,000 people, against almost 400,000 in the public sector as a whole. Following an independent review led by Helen Silver last year, the government cut about 1,000 VPS roles, including more than 300 executive positions, and merged several government entities. The government says the changes delivered $4bn in savings and left frontline roles untouched. Employee expenses are the state's largest area of spending, and the government has been trying to rein them in.
Hanna says the damage did not stop with the Silver review. Since then, she said, there have been more than 200 further restructures, many producing redundancies, job losses and pay cuts. The public service used to be a reliable, secure place to build a career, she said; that security is gone, replaced by precarious employment.
The union also released analysis drawn from Victorian government annual reports since the 2017-18 financial year. It shows Labor has spent $1.2bn on consultants across 10 departments. The Department of Treasury and Finance recorded the highest total, about $222m since 2017, while the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action had the highest single-year spend, about $86m in 2024-25. Hanna accepts that budget savings have to come from somewhere, but argues that cutting public servants only drives more reliance on consultants, which she calls privatisation by stealth.
The Coalition offers no refuge. It has promised an indefinite hiring freeze across all back-office public service roles if it wins government, saving a claimed $22bn over a decade. The freeze would last until VPS staffing returned to the population-adjusted level of 2014-15, when the Coalition was last in power. Hanna said the line both major parties draw between frontline roles and back-office ones ignores what public servants actually do: directing firefighters during bushfires, analysing DNA, fingerprints and ballistics, developing school curricula and investigating childcare centres.
The CPSU has launched a campaign asking Victorians to sign a pledge backing the public service and promising not to vote for candidates who propose cutting jobs. It endorses no party, though it notes that the Greens and the Victorian Socialists both oppose public service job cuts and the privatisation of public assets.
The union joins a widening group. Last week the Electrical Trades Union state council resolved not to run a statewide campaign for Labor, despite spending more than $1.6m supporting the party at the last election. The same day, the United Firefighters Union, in a wages dispute with the government since 2021, launched ads urging voters to put Labor last. The Australian Services Union is running ads calling the premier a liar as part of its campaign to lift the 1.5% council rate cap, which holds worker pay rises below inflation. Members of the Australian Education Union, also not formally affiliated, say they won't campaign for Labor, and the Health and Community Services Union has eight members running this election, none for the Labor party it is affiliated with.
Asked about it on Wednesday, Carroll told reporters he fights for workers every single day, noting he has been a union member since he was 14 and a Labor member since he was 20. With the poll weeks away, the question is how much the loss of union campaigning muscle costs the government on the ground.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
If Ben Carroll's government won't commit to no job cuts in the public service, then our union cannot support him.— Jiselle Hanna, CPSU Victorian secretary
He fights for workers every single day, and has been a union member since he was 14.— Premier Ben Carroll (paraphrased)
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