It's been revealed the Government is going to slash more than 350 jobs at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
There are also 180 jobs going at the Ministry of Health, so the axe is beginning to fall on the public service.
And, as public servants were ushered into meetings to learn their fate, ACT Party leader David Seymour was dancing on the graves of their livelihoods.
In response to the hundreds of people losing their jobs, Seymour reposted an ACT tweet saying: "Good."
MPI is the frontline of the backbone of New Zealand's economy. On Thursday, it became the frontline of job cuts.
"It's... tough and I really identify and empathise with those individuals and families," Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.
Newshub has seen a copy of the email MPI chief Ray Smith sent to all staff proposing to reduce numbers by 9 percent. That equated to a reduction of 384 positions, 40 percent of which are already vacant.
The email said the agency is not proposing reductions to frontline services and statutory roles - that's vets, animal welfare, fishery and food compliance officers or biosecurity at the border.
"It makes a mockery of them claiming that they're out there to support farmers and horticulturists," Labour's Damien O'Connor said.
The agency had grown by more than 1100 people in five years across biosecurity, regional on-ground support along with fisheries animal welfare, trade and policy. Biosecurity will be the biggest hit, with 130 roles to go.
"My heart goes out to anyone who loses their job in any circumstances but no Government can live beyond its means indefinitely," Finance Minister Nicola Willis said.
Asked about ACT's tweet, Seymour said: "I'm talking about a story where excessive Government waste that's damaged every New Zealander's livelihood over the last couple of years is coming to an end and that is good."
Grilled on whether he'd say that to an MPI worker's face, the ACT leader said: "I would say it's good that the economy is rebalancing but there would be no need for me to do that, that would be an odd thing for me to do."
Meanwhile, the minister in charge of the Ministry of Innovation and Employment, Melissa Lee, hasn't sought any assurances the cuts her agency was consulting on were not front-line roles.
The Ministry of Health also called staff in on Thursday to discuss job cuts. The ministry said in a statement the proposed changes could affect just over a quarter of its positions - that's about 180 jobs.
