Turning point for the Australian Public Service
Published at The Mandarin (themandarin.com.au)
Tuesday night was a turning point for the Australian Public Service, with
the Albanese government announcing an increase of more than 7,500 staff
across the APS and committing to stop the wasteful spending on consultants
and contractors.
For far too long, we’ve seen governments throw money at expensive
consultants and contractors while at the same time cutting public services
and public service workers to the bone. This overreliance on consultants
was costing the taxpayer more than $2 million per day and contributing to
the hollowing out of skills and experience within the public sector.
This is finally coming to an end.
These outcomes will be welcomed not just by hardworking APS employees but
also by members of the community that were let down by the last
government’s approach to public services. There will always be critics who
like to talk down the work of the public service — in fact, the Nationals
leader was in that category this week.
But the reality, of course, is that millions of Australians rely on public
services and public service workers every day. These services will now be
able to function more effectively, with:
- 653 more jobs in the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to help address
delays and long wait times for veterans.
- 296 more jobs in the National Disability Insurance Agency and 225 jobs in
the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to see people with disability
and their families get the support they need.
- 921 jobs in the Department of Home Affairs to address critical visa
backlogs and see families reunited after years of waiting in limbo for
their applications to be processed.
- 1,248 jobs in the Australian Taxation Office to ensure the agency can
better address the growing issue of multi-national tax avoidance.
- 407 new jobs in the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to regulate
aged care services.
And an additional $275.7 million investment in the Department of Climate
Change, the Environment, Energy and Water to develop our capacity to
respond to the huge and varied challenges of climate change.
Had the Morrison government been re-elected in May, the public sector would
be looking down the barrel of a $2.7 billion cut to the APS, which would
have slashed a further 5, 500 jobs, and a growing reliance on outsourcing
of public sector work.
But this landmark budget is delivering the very opposite of that.
Through its investment in the public sector, this budget will increase
staff numbers and start rebuilding APS capacity and capability. It will
deliver better support for Australians with a disability and their
families. It will see veterans be able to access better services and wait
times for visas will finally start to come down.
Public servants doing critical work on climate change and the environment
will be better equipped to meet the challenges we all face. And the
Australian Tax Office will have extra capacity to start cracking down on
multinational tax avoidance.
This budget makes significant progress towards the goal of rebuilding and
restoring the APS, but we all know that is a task that will take time.
There is much more to be done to restore the policy capacity and capability
that has been eroded by the over-reliance on consultants, but that work has
now begun.
This is a Budget that, for the first time in a decade, should be welcomed
by public sector workers and CPSU members across the country.