Public Service Cuts a Direct Attack on New Zealand Workers

Alliance Party media release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday 21 May 2026

The Alliance Party has condemned the Government’s escalating attack on public sector workers, warning that its continuing stream of public service cuts will deepen New Zealand’s economic and social crisis.

Alliance Party Leader Victor Billot says the Coalition Government’s agenda is actively worsening a severe, policy-driven downturn.

“Working-class people are being forced to pay the price for an economic crisis they did not create. The economy remains weak, families are under pressure, and the Government’s only response is to double down on failed austerity measures.”

Mr Billot says many families are now facing immense distress, including joblessness, poverty, and housing insecurity.

He says the Government is increasingly seen as a hostile force by ordinary New Zealanders because it is actively making people’s lives worse.

“The Government is fixated on cutting spending, laying off workers, squeezing the most vulnerable, and slashing, cancelling, and delaying desperately needed State housing construction.”

“This is a zombie resurrection of the brutal and disastrous neoliberal experiments of the 1990s.”

Mr Billot says starving public services and infrastructure will cause lasting damage to New Zealand.

“By the age of 30, around a quarter to nearly a third of New Zealand-born people are already living overseas. Destroying secure public sector jobs and opportunities will only accelerate this mass exodus of skilled and qualified workers.”

Mr Billot says lasting economic security requires a complete break from the failed neoliberal consensus.

“We do not have a wealth problem — we have a distribution problem.”

“We must urgently rebuild the power of the working class. Decades of anti-union attacks mean the benefits of production flow straight into the pockets of a wealthy ownership class, rather than into workers’ wages.”

“The Alliance stands in solidarity with public service workers and the wider working class. In 2026, we can end these attacks by an irresponsible Government made up of people who have no conscience and no understanding of the harm they are causing to working people.”

ENDS

For more information contact: Alliance Party Leader Victor Billot on 022 479 1786