The Coalition’s flagged cuts to the federal public service could cost taxpayers billions of dollars more, the Albanese government has warned, as figures reveal the workforce has surged by more than 30,000 in three years.
The number of public servants has risen to more than 185,000 as of June, a 9.4% increase on the previous year, the latest State of the Service report from the Australian Public Service Commission shows.
Since the Albanese government was elected in May 2022, the bureaucracy has grown by around 26,000 places, or 16.4%.
Service delivery agencies, like the National Disability Insurance Agency and Services Australia, have increased their workforces more than others. The NDIA gained an extra 2,193 staff in the 2023-24 financial year, representing a 38.8% increase.
The central welfare agency, meanwhile, got an extra 1,149 staff – something the government services minister, Bill Shorten, has said is a factor in reduced call wait times.
Since 2022, the public service has averaged a 171,000-strong workforce compared with a bit more than 150,000 under Coalition governments.
In the past decade, the overall workforce dropped to as low as 146,757 in 2019 while non-ongoing staff – including casuals and contractors – peaked at 19,601 in 2021.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has been eyeing a potential slash-and-burn in Canberra if he is victorious at the next federal election.
While Dutton has yet to announce a detailed plan to cut government expenditure, he told businesses in Melbourne in June he would “rein-in wasteful spending to take the pressure off inflation”.
“In the latest federal budget, Labor confirmed an additional 36,000 public servants in Canberra at a cost of $6 billion a year – all to please the unions,” he said.
“We will eliminate the regulatory roadblocks and red tape to re-energise the economy and allow businesses the freedom to flourish again.”
A month later, Dutton again told Queensland party members Labor had employed 36,000 public servants at a cost of $24bn over four years.
“That’s what’s driving inflation,” he said.
But the assistant public service minister, Pat Gorman, cautioned that a slash-and-burn of tens of thousands of public servants would see the return of “longer wait times and diminished service quality”.
Gorman said that “properly staffing our public services can save taxpayers money”, noting there had been about $4bn saved from cutting external labour since the government came into power.
“When agencies are understaffed, the reliance on more expensive external contractors becomes necessary. Under Labor, 8,800 public servants are doing work that was formerly outsourced,” he said.
The shadow public service minister, Jane Hume, accused Labor of “outrageous” spending after the May federal budget, saying nearly 50 public servants a day had been hired since Labor took office.
“This is not spending taxpayers’ money wisely or prudently. It shows a complete lack of respect of where that money comes from,” she said in May.
“Minister [Katy] Gallagher – a senator for the ACT – is out there acting like Oprah, basically throwing around ongoing staffing positions to departments that don’t necessarily want or need them.”
An Albanese government audit in May 2023 found the former Morrison government had spent $20.8bn outsourcing more than a third of public service operations.
Nearly 54,000 full-time staff were employed as consultants or service providers for the federal government during the 2021-22 financial year – the equivalent of 37% of the 144,300-employee public service, it found.
“A well-resourced public service fosters trust and satisfaction among all citizens, as well as efficient service delivery. Claims backlogs have been slashed. Claims are being processed significantly faster. Call wait times have dropped,” Gorman said.
“We cannot afford to return to long wait times and service backlogs, or to the lack of accountability that led to the sports rorts and Robodebt.
“Dutton’s public service jobs cuts risk undermining public trust.”
