UNIONS are calling on the state government to explain which public servants and services are in the firing line, after the government revealed plans to make deeper budget cuts.
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Treasurer Peter Gutwein said yesterday the new government had to find savings equivalent to 1000 full- time equivalent (FTE) job cuts, but could not put a dollar figure on the task.
Mr Gutwein blamed the previous government's failure to deliver on its 2011 pledge to get rid of 1700 positions.
"But from June 2011 to February 2014, Treasury estimates there was a net reduction of less than 700 FTEs, allowing for seasonal fluctuations in education," Mr Gutwein said.
"Labor hid these skeletons. They were not upfront with Tasmanians and the full extent of Labor's cover-up only became clear after the election."
The cuts are on top of the Liberals' $500 million savings targets, which already included reducing the size of the public service by 500 over two years.
Mr Gutwein said the government was attempting to find other savings to mitigate the number of job losses.
Community and Public Sector Union assistant secretary Mat Johnston was concerned the government would bring back forced redundancies to get rid of up to 1500 positions - triple the number of cuts the Liberals had said they would make prior to the election.
"Natural attrition is not going to work," Mr Johnston said.
He said the new government was repeating the mistakes of its predecessor and risked sending the economy backwards.
"The largest employer in the state again putting out this `no jobs are safe' message with no specifics, will make people pull their heads in," he said.
Mr Johnston said the lack of details about where the savings would be found was also concerning.
"We're talking about biosecurity, child protection, teacher aides - the effects will be fairly widespread."
Updated Treasury advice released in April showed the state was on track to post a billion dollar accumulated deficit over the forward estimates.
That does not take into account the looming shortfalls in health and education funding as a result of the Commonwealth's decision to abandon a series of national partnerships.