MEDIA RELEASE
As state debt hurtles toward $200 billion, Jacinta Allan’s government is hiring ‘social inclusion’ advisers on six-figure salaries — paid for by hardworking Victorian taxpayers
Victorian taxpayers are being slugged to fund diversity and inclusion adviser roles paying up to $191,000 a year — even as the state’s debt pile surges toward $200 billion and public sector jobs are being cut in a supposed ‘efficiency drive’.
The Allan government is advertising for an ‘Equality Programs Manager’ on a salary of up to $191,084 to help deliver $11.2 million in LGBTQIA+ programs announced in this month’s state budget. Meanwhile, the consortium behind the controversial $34.5 billion Suburban Rail Loop East project is seeking a ‘Social Inclusion Adviser’ on $140,000–$160,000 — a project which has already blown a multi-billion dollar funding black hole and spent $7,500 of public money on Aboriginal art to decorate tunnel boring machines that will be buried underground.
According to Family First’s Jane Foreman, this is economic recklessness of the highest order. Victorians are working harder than ever, paying more tax, and watching essential services stretched to breaking point — and this is what the Allan government does with their money.
“Victorians are working harder than ever, paying more tax, and watching essential services stretched to breaking point — and this is what the Allan government does with their money.”
“Victorians are drowning in a $200 billion debt crisis, a wages blowout of $7.2 billion, and a cost-of-living crunch — yet the Allan government thinks the priority is hiring six-figure diversity bureaucrats. This is a government completely out of touch with the families struggling to pay their bills.”
“The Allan government cut 1,000 public sector jobs with one hand, and is now hiring woke bureaucrats on near-$200,000 salaries with the other. Victorians deserve better than this shameless waste.”
“Every dollar spent on a diversity tick-box exercise is a dollar not going to hospitals, schools, roads, or the police keeping our communities safe.”