A Liberal senator has described his view of Aboriginal needs, amid job cuts and lost morale within the department meant to help.

As job cuts drive down morale in the indigenous affairs section of the Prime Minister’s Department, Senator Ian Macdonald has opened fire on Opposition concerns for staff.

The Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet took on indigenous affairs as part of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s ambitious portfolio re-jig, which included moving responsibility for women’s affairs into his domain as well.

But the moves to combine previously separate functions have led to hundreds of redundancies. These, combined with a general sense that difficult tasks have become near impossible, have left morale in tatters, insiders say.

Claims made to media outlets contradict the official line, it seems, as Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said PM&C indigenous affairs staff were “getting on with the job and buoyant”, when they met last week.

Labor Senator Jan McLucas recently defended the group, saying PM&C staff were “good public servants” who were used to change “but not like this”.

Senator Macdonald responded voraciously to the Opposition’s concerns.

“Senator McLucas' concern for sacked public servants in Canberra over the interests of indigenous people just amazes me,” he said.

“We don't want teams of public servants in Canberra trying to tell indigenous people in northern Australia how to run their lives.

“What indigenous people want is to be treated like every other Australia. They want a job. They want to be able to own their house.

“They want their child to be educated so they have a chance in this world.

“Typical of the ALP, more interested in public servants in Canberra than they are about indigenous Australians who live around the north of our country.

“As long as you've got Labor around they'll be treated as second class citizens that need someone else to hold their hand,” Senator Macdonald said.