Dutton won’t confirm job cut numbers for ‘Trump-style slash’ of Education Department

In his continued campaign against cutting “waste” out of the federal budget, Peter Dutton has taken aim at the Department of Education, opening the door to potential job cuts for workers.

Peter Dutton may have alluded to some of his potential targets in his pledge to cut 41,000 public sector workers if his party is successful in the upcoming federal election – throwing shade at the Department of Education in an eerily similar fashion to US President Donald Trump.

Recently speaking on Sky News, Dutton took aim at the education sector, expressing that indoctrination and agenda pushing is occurring throughout the sector.

“You’ve seen other academics who are out as part of protests on the streets and teachers similarly. That’s being translated into the classroom. That’s not something I support,” Dutton said.

“I support young Australians being able to think freely, being able to assess what’s before them and not being told and indoctrinated with something that is the agenda of others, and that’s the approach that we would take.”

In terms of the Department of Education, Dutton questioned the need for a sheer number of employees residing at the department – echoing his previous statement of prioritising spending “on frontline services, not on back-office operations”.

“The Commonwealth government doesn’t own or run a school, which is why people ask, well, why? I’ve got a department of thousands and thousands of people in Canberra called the Education Department, if we don’t have a school and don’t employ a teacher?” he said.

The statement made by Dutton coincides with his overall plan to cut 41,000 job roles from the public service. Despite homing in on the education sector, Dutton has yet to directly pinpoint the departments that will face these cuts. However, he went announced that the details of these cuts will be released before the election on 3 May.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) was quick to hit out at Dutton’s comments, claiming that he’s “following the actions of Donald Trump” by signalling cuts to the federal Department of Education.

“We have had no clarity on the cuts Peter Dutton plans to make to education, nor will he come clean on what his plans are for public education,” AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe said.

“Now he is taking a leaf from the Trump playbook by going for the Department of Education by threatening to cut thousands of jobs, control what teachers teach – and pull funding if they don’t comply with his ideology.”

“Clearly, a Trump-style gutting of the Department of Education is going to be a part of the $7 billion a year in cuts he wants to make.”

Similar to the union, Minister for Education Jason Clare made the comparison between Trump and Dutton, claiming that abolishing the Department of Education is only the start.

“Peter Dutton has no ideas of his own, no plan for Australia, just half-baked ideas imported from the US,” Minister Clare said.

“Abolishing the Department of Education is just the start. This is the thin edge of the wedge.”