Australia

Up to 400 jobs will be cut at the elite Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and so far there has been a shortfall in the number of workers interested in taking voluntary packages.

Staff have been told between 350 and 400 staff will need to go following Tuesday’s budget.

About 200 staff have expressed interest in voluntary redundancies and another 100 have departed without being backfilled.

This leaves 50 to 100 positions which need to be identified and surrendered between now and the end of June 2015.

Department secretary Ian Watt, who receives a pay rise this July along with other Canberra mandarins, addressed staff about the job losses on Thursday and workers say management was confident this would happen by natural attrition.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/up-to-400-jobs-to-go-at-prime-minister-and-cabinet-department-20140516-zrf7q.html#ixzz31s0MxfFM