Lisa Singh

I have been written to personally by a number of officers from the Department of Home Affairs in Tasmania, with grave concerns for their future employment and the integrity of Australia’s visa processing regime.

I have responded today by writing to Minister Tudge calling on him to confirm that none of the public service jobs now at risk will be lost in Tasmania.

For Minister Tudge to say the Turnbull government was not privatising even though it released a paper requesting “Expressions of Interest for market providers” is disingenuous.

The Department of Home Affairs has recently outsourced 250 departmental call centre jobs to New Zealand company Datacom, while the Department of Human Services outsourced 250 Centrelink jobs to Serco.

The Turnbull government’s obsession with privatisation fails to treat Australia’s public servants with the respect they deserve in favour of outsourcing to multinationals.

This proposal fails to value the expertise and experience of our frontline workers here in Tasmania.

Our Visa Services staff here in Hobart are dedicated, highly trained, hard-working and the best possible people to deliver Australia’s visa system and processes going forward.

We all know that when public services are privatised Australian tax payers end up paying more and getting poorer services.

FRIDAY, 9 MARCH 2018

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