'A wrecking ball': Public service job cuts spark alarm for Pasifika

For thousands of Pacific families in Aotearoa New Zealand, government services are not a last resort but a first call - for immigration help, health advice, housing support, and navigating systems that can be hard to understand.

Those same services are now facing major cuts.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis this week unveiled a wide-ranging overhaul of the public service ahead of next month's Budget.

The government plans to reduce more than 8700 jobs, merge agencies, and increase the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Speaking to a business audience in Auckland on Tuesday, Willis said the aim is to shrink bureaucracy, improve efficiency, and return core public service numbers to about one per cent of the population.

Under the plan, public service numbers are expected to fall to about 55,000 full-time equivalent employees by July 2029, down from around 63,700 at the end of last year.

Government aims to save $2.4 billion in cost-cutting measures announced on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. Photo/PMN

Most agencies will face budget cuts of two per cent in the first year, followed by five per cent in each of the following two years, with changes expected to deliver about $2.4 billion in savings over four years.

But the cuts are not being applied evenly across the government. While thousands of public sector jobs are set to go across 30 agencies, ACT leader David Seymour's Ministry for Regulation has grown to more than four times the size of the body it replaced, increasing from around 22 staff at the former Productivity Commission to 93 full-time equivalents

A BusinessDesk report published on Wednesday, using figures released to the Labour Party under the Official Information Act, says Seymour ignored official advice that a standalone ministry would be the most expensive option.

Listen to Duane Leo's interview below.

In the past two years, the Ministry for Regulation has spent more than $2.75 million on contractors and consultants.

Labour's regulatory spokeswoman Georgie Dansey has called it a “vanity ministry” as unions and community leaders warn frontline services will be hit hard.

Duane Leo, National Secretary for the Public Service Association (PSA), says the plan goes far beyond reform.

Watch Tangi Utikere's interview below.

"This is an act of wilful destruction," Leo told William Terite on Pacific Mornings. "Potentially, they could be sacking up to 10,000 public servants.

“This is not reform. It's a wrecking ball through crucial services that New Zealanders rely on every single day."

PSA analysis suggests that because 10 agencies are exempt, the remaining 30 will carry the full burden of job losses. It estimates nearly one in four workers in those agencies could be affected. The Ministry of Social Development could lose more than 2000 staff, while the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment faces cuts of around 1400.

Concern is particularly strong around the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, which is expected to lose nearly a quarter of its workforce.

Labour MP Tangi Utikere says he fears the ministry itself could be under threat.

"Is this the next step to basically look at culling that ministry that means so much for Pacific communities here and abroad?" Utikere asks during an interview with Terite.

Listen to Teanau Tuiono's interview below.

"The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is perhaps at the smaller side of things, but that by no means makes it any less important. MPP could be one of those options."

Green MP Teanau Tuiono says cuts may also happen indirectly through restructuring. "I worry about what's going to happen at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, whether a lot of those jobs are going to get rationalised into other government departments and then eliminated."

Fala Haulangi, a community leader and union organiser says the changes will be felt most by ordinary families.

She says many Pacific workers rely on agencies such as MBIE, WorkSafe and ACC for support and information.

"When I first came here, I really had no idea how to survive in this country," she told PMN News. "I have called government agencies many times to help me with things to do with my immigration papers or jobs, and then they will direct me to where to go, the proper, relevant agency or government department."

Haulangi warns that job cuts will not reduce demand for services. "They cut half of the workers and the workload will double for others,” she said. "I'm talking about people. They are real people, with families. These are their livelihoods."

Watch Nicola Willis' pre-budget speech below.

The government has pointed to AI and digital tools as part of the solution but Haulangi says that will not work for everyone.

"In our community, not everybody has access. They have to go to the library. They don't have enough data," she says. "We are people's people. We love to talk to human beings. Kanohi ki te kanohi. That's our DNA."

Leo also questions whether AI is ready to replace frontline work. "AI is something that hasn't been tested. Where is the evidence that this is going to occur?"

The Budget is due on 28 May.