Peter Dutton’s plan to fund bulk billing by slashing $24 billion in federal government jobs is a false economy that will hurt essential services without actually solving the problem.
Yes, bureaucracy can be inefficient – I’ve seen government jobs remain long after the original problem was solved. But the solution isn’t indiscriminate cuts that cripple Medicare, Centrelink, and the ATO – it’s targeted reviews to ensure efficiency without gutting essential services.
We’ve seen this before – past Coalition governments cut public service jobs, only to spend even more on private consultants at double or triple the cost. If Dutton were serious about funding Medicare, he’d close corporate tax loopholes, crack down on government waste in consulting contracts, and reinvest in essential services – not gut the very institutions that keep them running.
This isn’t about fiscal responsibility; it’s about an ideological attack on government at the expense of everyday Australians.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
