The price New Zealanders will pay for the decimation of the public service
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Duane Leo is the national secretary of the Public Service Association Te Pukenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
OPINION: Which services will you lose? That is the question every New Zealander should be asking after Finance Minister Nicola Willis unveiled her plan to sack up to 9000 public service workers by 2029, merge government departments and use AI to replace some of the people and the work they do to deliver the services you rely on.
Will there be fewer biosecurity officers keeping pests and diseases out of the country? Fewer people stopping online child exploitation and scams? Fewer inspectors keeping your workplace safe? Fewer people helping farmers avoid bovine TB and M. bovis? Fewer tax experts chasing cheats? Fewer people keeping unsafe trucks off our roads? Which conservation projects will be abandoned?
These are not abstract questions. They are the real consequences of an arbitrary headcount target dressed up as well thought through reform. Voters deserve answers.
And this is not just about Wellington. Fifty-five percent of public service workers support communities, people young and old, the elderly and disabled, all around New Zealand - in Auckland, Canterbury and towns the length of the country. These cuts will be felt in every region.
Read more:
‘Bad news on top of bad news’: Public service job cut plan hits home in capital
Budget 2026: Nicola Willis to plot leaner public service; union says up to 10,000 jobs could go
The Government claims this overhaul will save $2.4 billion. Let’s be clear: that is $2.4 billion less spent on services. Less means less. Lower quality, slower responses, fewer services. There is no magic formula where you sack thousands of public service workers and services stay the same.
This is all about choices. The Government decided to give away $20b in tax cuts to landlords, business and big tobacco – and promised growth, growth, growth. That didn’t happen, now public services will be cut to pay the bill. Add that to women losing pay equity settlements.
The minister points to AI and digitisation as the answer. But using technology as a justification for sacking thousands of public service workers is wishful thinking. No government anywhere in the world has replaced workers at this scale with AI. Countries that have invested far more in digital government than New Zealand have found no evidence AI can displace the people actually delivering public services.
We have been calling for an AI strategy that maximises the benefits and prevents negative impacts for workers and the public. Linking AI to an arbitrary headcount target does exactly the opposite - it turns technology into a threat rather than a tool.
And when AI systems go wrong in government, the consequences are dire. Ask the Australians about Robodebt, where automated systems wrongly pursued hundreds of thousands of people for debts they did not owe.
Will Nicola Willis take personal responsibility when something goes badly wrong because her government pushed agencies to adopt AI without the necessary preparation and protections?
Then there are the mergers. The Prime Minister asked why 16 cabinet ministers interface with MBIE. The answer, ironically, is that the last National-led government created MBIE by merging departments into one mega-ministry. Now they want to do more of the same. If it’s such a problem, why is he wanting to do more of it?
The evidence on mergers is clear: they are hugely disruptive, they divert resources from service delivery and they drive experienced people out the door. Bigger departments do not mean better departments. They mean leaders splitting attention across more responsibilities, with less depth on the issues that matter.
Smaller, focused agencies exist for good reason. From the Ministry of Women to Disabled People/Whaikaha, each was established after long campaigns by communities fighting for a voice in government. The Cancer Control Agency exists because advocates fought for years for independent national leadership on cancer. Population ministries like the Ministry for Pacific Peoples provide specialist expertise and free and frank policy advice. Merging them into mega-departments would dilute that expertise and silence those voices.
Royal commissions examining government failures - from Pike River to the Christchurch earthquakes to the March 15 mosque attacks - have consistently recommended more resources and clearer accountability, not fewer agencies. This Government is heading in exactly the wrong direction.
This year alone, more than 20 states of emergency have been declared across New Zealand as storms, flooding and cyclones have battered communities from Northland to Wellington. In the decade to 2014, there were just 17 declarations in total. In the decade since, that number has nearly quadrupled. Climate change is here, now, and getting worse. We need to invest in adaptation. And this is the moment the Government chooses to gut the public service’s capacity to respond?
Public service workers have been hammered for two years. It’s little wonder so many are crossing the Tasman. Our recent survey shows around one in three public service workers are thinking of going overseas for higher pay. Like in Australia, where they are valued, where jobs are increasing across the Federal and State governments – 3.3% in the June 2025 year.
New Zealand’s public service exists to serve the public. It exists to protect vulnerable children, keep our borders safe, preserve our environment, and prepare us for the future. Destroying it to hit an arbitrary number on a spreadsheet is not reform. It is an act of wilful destruction, and all New Zealanders will pay the price.