About £6bn would come from tackling tax avoidance and £12bn from departmental spending cuts.
Tony Abbott and the Coalition have sacked three departmental heads in a modest shakeup of the public service after promising no "night of the long knives".
But making the necessary cuts in departmental spending and the necessary savings in the benefit budget – none of it easy – these things are not avoidable," Cridland told reporters.
He set out plans for £12bn of departmental spending cuts and £4bn of welfare cuts by 2017-18, and promised that the remaining £14bn of the deficit programme would be achieved by raising £8bn in tax rises and £6bn by cracking down on tax avoidance.
Abbott said "the changes to departmental structure … will simplify the management of government business, create clear lines of accountability and ensure that departments deliver on the government's key priorities".
Unless political leaders agree a lasting deal on welfare, there is the danger of a senior civil servant stepping in to take over departmental spending later in the summer, under tight financial constraints.
The departmental head of news, Caroline Wright, and head of communications, Lee Bailey, were packed off, while James Frayne was brought in from Westbourne, a public affairs firm steeped in Tory connections.
These "efficiency savings" will be to departmental spending rather than cuts to benefits payments and are separate from the planned £12bn in welfare cuts, the details of which have yet to be revealed by the government.
He set out a path to balance through £12bn in departmental cuts, £6bn in higher taxes, £6bn from the proceeds from clamping down on corporate tax evasion and £3.5bn in welfare cuts.
Who would have thought it would be Brown – not, say, Thatcher – who would have the flag fluttering from departmental rooftops all year round?
The session was stopped on a point of order raised by Ian Paisley's deputy and minister of finance, Peter Robinson: "The announcement she has made is contrary to the process set out by the (ministerial) Executive and the decision that she is announcing is not consistent with the advice offered by the departmental solicitor's office and senior Crown counsel.
