WELLINGTON (June 22): With more than 6,000 New Zealand public sector jobs already gone or likely to go, dismissed officers are suffering a double blow — out of work in a stagnant economy that is likely to provide them with few openings.
As the Government's cost-cutting takes effect, some of those affected have said they have given up getting another job in the country.
A Ministry for Social Development officer, who asked to be known simply as Red, decided to take voluntary redundancy, but said she did not really feel it was voluntary.
"The conditions that we work in are a push out the door, really. You might make it through this first round [of cuts], but we know that there will need to be more cuts, and we don't know what those will look like," Red said.
She decided to cross the Tasman to Australia, where she has already landed a job in Melbourne.
She is not alone, another worker from the same Ministry, who also did not want to be identified, decided to move to Melbourne after he learned his contract would not be renewed.
"As soon as I landed here it took me two weeks to find a job. They appreciate my skills and experience,” the officer said.
An executive with the Robert Walters recruitment firm, Shay Peters has been working in Wellington since 2009, watching the ebb and flow of Public Servants under different Governments.
"This situation just seems more invasive. Yes, we knew the public sector had grown significantly also over that period of time, but so had the population," Mr Peters said.
He said that under a Labour Government there were typically more permanent jobs, and less contract roles, and that tended to move the other way when the conservative Nationals were in power.
However, he sees this Government as the toughest yet, because both permanent and contract jobs are being cut.
"That's why I think a lot of people that are coming out of Government roles are looking further afield, whether it's further afield in New Zealand, or further afield internationally," Mr Peters said.
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UK Ministers ‘statistical dunces’
LONDON (June 22): The United Kingdom’s Royal Statistical Society (RSS) has taken statistic-illiterate Ministers to task, saying they should undergo training before they open their mouths.
It has written to all leaders of the main political parties, urging them ensure that, if they win the election, their Ministers will be provided with training in interpreting data.
The RSS pointed to evidence given at the recent COVID-19 Inquiry which has highlighted that during the pandemic then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and other Ministers were unable to interpret key statistical evidence.
Diary notes from pandemic-era Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, released to the inquiry, include one where he said: "Watching PM get his head around stats is awful. He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand.”
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Top talent struggles for Civil Service jobs
BEIJING (July 22): The story of a PhD graduate from one of the top universities in the world taking a low-paid Local Government job has lit up China’s social media.
Su Zhen reportedly studied physics at an elite Chinese university before pursuing a doctorate at Stanford University in the United States — his situation highlighting the intense competition for Civil Service jobs that has developed in the wake of the country’s economic slowdown.
He has taken up a position in Suzhou, a city of roughly five million people in Anhui Province where he will work on various grassroots public service projects, such as a rural revitalisation drive. He is required to work in the city for at least five years.
One local official said no one with a degree from a prestigious overseas university had ever applied for a role with the City Council, but added that Mr Su had been born and raised in Suzhou.
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Nigerian bureaucracy ‘best in the world’
ABUJA (June 24): Never one to back away from controversy, the head of Nigeria’s Federal Civil Service, Folasade Yemi-Esan has made her biggest call yet with the claim the country’s bureaucracy is the best in the world.
Speaking at a sporting event to mark 2024 Civil Service Week, Ms Yemi-Esan said the country’s Civil Servants were intelligent and capable of looking after their health for greater productivity.
“You know I am always proud of Civil Servants because Nigeria has the best Civil Service in the world and I can say that confidently anywhere,” Ms Yemi-Esan said.
Praising the turnout for the multi-sport event, she urged officers not to take exercise for granted “because if we are not healthy, we can’t give the country the best that we have”.
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Patriots wanted in Ukraine shake-up
KYIV (June 25): Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has given his new Chief of the State Security Service (SBU), Oleksiy Morozov carte blanche to ensure his Department is "staffed exclusively by patriotic professional people who connect their fate exclusively with Ukraine”.
Mr Zelenskyy said the Department “must be cleansed of all those who choose not Ukraine for themselves or discredit the State Security Office”.
The SBU said last month that it had caught two colonels accused of cooperating with Russia in a plot to assassinate Mr Zelenskyy and other officials, including Chief of Military Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
Mr Morozov's predecessor, Serhiy Rud was dismissed in May, two days after the SBU's detention of Agency employees who, it said, worked for Russia's Federal Security Service and leaked classified information.
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Milei to press ahead with privatisation plan
BUENOS AIRES (June 24): Argentina’s right-wing Government still intends to eventually privatise Argentina’s State-run airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas despite it being removed from a list of other public companies destined to be sold off after negotiations with MPs
Speaking after the amended legislation was approved by the Senate, Presidential Spokesperson, Manuel Adorni said President Javier Milei would now push ahead with the privatisation of a dozen State firms.
The airline, the Correo Argentino Post Office and the State media outlets of Radio y Televisión Argentina were also taken off the table, but Mr Adorni said they would eventually be privatised “beyond the framework of Congress”.
“All State-run companies may be privatised. Whether it will be at this legislative juncture or further on will be up to the Chamber of Deputies,” Mr Adorni said.
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Mexico staying on militarisation path
MEXICO CITY (June 25): The next President of Mexico has confirmed that the previously civilian-based National Guard will become part of the country’s military.
The announcement by President-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum appeared to indicate that the growing militarisation of Mexico’s society, inaugurated by current President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will continue under her administration.
At an event with the President to inaugurate new National Guard facilities in Oaxaca, Ms Sheinbaum said it was up to her Government to “continue strengthening and consolidating the National Guard as part of the Defence Ministry with the constitutional reform that is before the Congress”.
The National Guard, which effectively replaced the now-defunct Federal Police, has been criticised for lacking the capacity to investigate crimes, while the conduct of some of its members has been the subject of criminal investigations.
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Singapore officers get mid-year top-up
SINGAPORE (June 22): The Singapore Public Service Division (PSD) says Civil Servants will receive a mid-year bonus equal to 0.45 of a month’s salary.
It said junior grade officers will get an additional payment of up to $S250 ($A280).
“This mid-year payment takes into consideration both the better economic outlook and downside risks that remain in the global economy,” the PSD said in a statement.
"The Government will continue to monitor the economic situation closely. It will take into consideration the guidelines by the National Wages Council which will be released later in the year.”
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Purr-fect outcome to Max’s varsity ‘studies’
MONTPELIER (June 22): Vermont State University in the United States has awarded campus cat, Max with a Doctorate of Litter-ature.
Max wandered onto the Castleton campus four years ago and can often be found hanging out with students and academics.
Dean of Admissions and Enrolment Services, Maurice Ouimet said Max had become a fixture in the school’s community.
“We thought he had been at the institution long enough to receive his Doctorate, but he will stay on, continuing his task in welcoming people to the campus,” Mr Ouimet said.
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