Public servants rally against possible gag ABOUT 100 public servants have gathered outside NSW parliament to protest against legislation they warn could stifle their ability to provide the government with honest advice. A petition with about 16,000 signatures has been handed to upper house MP Fred Nile, voicing the Public Service Association's opposition to the Government Sector Employment Bill and any possible job cuts. Under the bill, protections and merit-based recruitment processes will be removed, PSA general secretary Anne Gardiner told AAP on Monday. This will limit public servants ability to offer the government honest advice because they could be fired without warning under propositions in the bill, she said. Greens MP David Shoebridge, who accepted the petition with Mr Nile, said the bill "represented the politicisation of the public service." "Every government should expect frank and fearless advice," he told the rally on Monday. Changes brought under the bill, he says, will turn those meant to serve the citizens of NSW into the "political lap dog of whatever government is in power." Opposition leader John Robertson said independence in the public service is crucial to government. "We will do everything we can to maintain your independence," he told the PSA members at the rally. Ms Gardiner said the PSA was prepared to work with the government to modernise public sector contracts. But so far they haven't been consulted, and the 43,000 members are fearful the bill will pass into law with little scrutiny or opportunity for the PSA to state its views, she added. While the government argued the move will save millions that can be redirected to frontline services, Ms Gardiner believes the changes are being done for political control. "I think the government wants to treat us like public serfs instead of public servants," she told AAP. The contracts are "very unfair" as they allow people to be fired for any or no reason, she added. Ms Gardiner wants a parliamentary committee to examine the bill but says she "doesn't hold much hope" if it manages to pass into law. Mr Shoebridge warned the bill will allow the government to populate the public service "with its mates." "You actually need competent bureaucrats to competently allocate resources," he told AAP.