Following the disestablishment of the Pay Equity Taskforce and in response to government savings requirements the Commission has today announced it is removing jobs from teams responsible for diversity and inclusion work.

Te Kawa Mataaho, Public Service Commission today released its final decisions to meet the Government’s demand to cut spending by 7.5%. The decisions see a net loss of 28 roles, including in teams working on gender and ethnic pay initiatives.

These are the teams leading work on important initiatives like the gender pay action plan, removing gender and ethnic pay gaps, and improving outcomes for disadvantaged groups.

"You need a public service that’s representative of the community they serve, if they’re going to serve that community well. Downsizing the teams delivering public service-wide strategies and work programmes to make our services more diverse and more representative is a massive step backwards."

"Once again, we see the flawed logic of the Government’s spending cuts which will only undermine its ability to achieve the very outcomes it talks so loudly about," said Kerry Davies.

The Commission is also shedding experts across its workforce, communications and senior leadership teams as part of the reductions.

"Driving a more efficient and representative public service is what these roles are all about. The end result of all this will be a public service unable to deliver the quality public services New Zealanders need."

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