Our Golden response to the Silver review
As the Allan Government pushes ahead with plans to cut thousands of jobs from the Victorian Public Service (VPS), our very own A Voice for Members smarties are creating The Gold Review.
The Gold Review is a volunteer-led report that offers a compelling and necessary counterpoint to the Silver Review. If you’re looking for evidence-based alternatives to austerity, this report will deliver.
Let’s be clear: the Silver Review, commissioned by the state government, aims to cut between 3,000 and 6,000 VPS jobs. It frames this as a fiscal necessity. The Gold Review shows that this is a false choice. Cutting jobs won’t save what they claim. In fact, for every dollar cut, 40 cents are lost to hidden costs like:
- the need to backfill government functions with consultants
- recruitment costs
- service gaps
- increased unemployment burdens
- the burden of increased stress and sickness on those still employed to pick up the slack.
The Gold Review has 8 recommendations, 5 cost-saving and 3 revenue-generating, that together add $13 billion to the state budget over 5 years. That’s almost 5 times the $2.85 billion that would be “saved” by the proposed job cuts, assuming up to 6,000 positions do go, and all this without cutting a single VPS job!
Our Proposals
On the savings side, the report proposes:
- trimming the bloated executive layer of the VPS
- halving consultancy spending
- consolidating government office space
- cutting fossil fuel subsidies
- shifting government banking to a public option.
Each measure is backed by detailed costings. Together they deliver real, ongoing savings for the Victorian taxpayers.
On the revenue side, the report recommends:
- introducing a modest state-level bank levy
- raising the online betting tax to 20%
- closing the tax gap by just 1%.
These are modest, fair, and achievable measures that would generate billions in new revenue without harming working people.
The report also dismantles the 3 key arguments being used to justify VPS cuts:
- The state economy and budget are not in crisis — Victoria’s economy is strong and growing, and the government’s balance sheet is solid.
- The VPS is not “bloated” — in fact, it is now smaller relative to the size of the total public sector than it was pre-pandemic. If there’s any bloat, it’s in the explosive growth in the number of executives in the senior executive service.
- Credit rating agencies are not demanding job cuts — reading the reports they issue reveals the real concerns they raise are around unfunded infrastructure – particularly the Suburban Rail Loop – rather than public service size or wages.
We’ve already seen the human costs of past cuts. According to the VPSC, too many VPS staff are overworked, stressed, and time poor. According to VAGO, the VPS is also struggling to meet its own service delivery benchmarks (AKA BP3 Measures) — and more cuts will only make this worse.
The public deserves better. Premier, why choose Silver, when you could have Gold?
This is the moment to rally and to stand up against misguided austerity. The Gold Review will prove that we can protect jobs, maintain services, and still strengthen the budget, if the Government is willing to listen.
Let’s make sure they do.
Where can I read the report?
The Gold Review will be released on the A Voice For Members website on Tuesday 3rd June – stay tuned.
We will also add a link to the document right here on this page.
As of Tuesday morning, the Gold Review has been released!