Latest news with #AustralianPublicService
Sky News AU
03-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson laments exploding public sector reaching record levels under Albanese government
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has lamented the Albanese government's bloated public sector and claimed the huge growth in workers was 'making our life worse'. The federal public service has expanded to record levels under Labor, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledging to bolster lagging productivity growth. New Australian Public Service (APS) data has revealed the federal bureaucracy is set to balloon to a record-breaking 213,000 staff, up from a 14-year low of 144,704 workers at the end of 2019. A considerable number of the growing workforce is made of up compliance, regulation, administrative, and human resources officers tasked with supervising the mammoth public service. The compliance category, which makes up HR, policy and regulation employees experienced the steepest bump, surging by more than 41,000 workers over five years to December 2024. 'They're actually making our life worse,' Senator Hanson told Sky News on Thursday. 'You put in more public servants, that means more taxpayers' money has to pay the wages and then on top of that you've got all superannuation on top and then all your benefits and everything.' Senator Hanson said the expanded public service was a 'drain' of taxpayers' dollars. 'Albanese has also increased (the public service) because public servants will vote for Labor because they've got a job for life and they're just going to not sack them,' she added. Mr Albanese made the topic of the federal bureaucracy a central talking point in the recent election and defended his government's hiring spree while criticising former opposition leader Peter Dutton's plan to cull over 41,000 civil servants in the nation's capital. Senator Hanson said the Liberal Party backing away from the policy to crack down on working from home was a 'big mistake'. 'They should have followed through on that,' she said. Despite Mr Albanese vowing to lift lagging productivity and reduce the workforce's dependency on government support, Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last week showed that the almost one million workers were employed in federal, state, territory, and local government positions. This makes up 6.8 per cent of the Australian workforce.
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Federal public service bloats to record level highs under Anthony Albanese, despite Labor vowing to improve stagnating productivity
The federal public service has expanded to record levels under Labor, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledging to bolster lagging productivity growth. New Australian Public Service (APS) data has revealed the federal bureaucracy is set to balloon to a record-breaking 213,000 staff, up from a 14-year low of 144,704 workers at the end of 2019. It was also uncovered that a considerable number of the workforce was made of up compliance, regulation, administrative, and human resources officers tasked with supervising the mammoth public service. The compliance category, which makes up HR, policy and regulation employees among others experienced the steepest bump, surging by more that 41,000 workers over five years to December 2024. Despite Mr Albanese vowing to lift lagging productivity and reduce the workforce's dependency on government support, Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last week showed that the almost one million workers were employed in federal, state, territory, and local governments positions. This makes up a staggering 6.8 per cent of the Australian workforce. The shocking revelations come ahead of the government's widely-anticipated economic roundtable on productivity, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers set to gather with business, industry and union bodies to discuss how to best kickstart the nation's concerning productivity levels. Service delivery skyrocketed by 28 per cent to 39,742 employees, while strategic policy and portfolio, program and project management sectors grew by 154 per cent and 153 per cent respectively. Human resources also grew by 48 per cent to 6,381 employees, with administration and communications and marketing employees also rising by 74 per cent and 89 per cent. The APS data also revealed, that while female and culturally diverse representation had grown, the number of indigenous Australians in the government's bloated workforce has dropped to a nine-year low of 3.4 per cent in 2024. This comes in well below the government's target of 5 per cent first nations representation in the federal bureaucracy by 2030. Mr Albanese made the topic of the federal bureaucracy a central talking point in the recent election and defended his government's hiring spree while criticising former opposition leader Peter Dutton's plan to cull over 41,000 civil servants in the nation's capital. During the 2022 federal election, Mr Albanese was critical of the former Coalition's dependency on external consultants and outsourcing service delivery schemes following the shocking Robdebt debacle, with in house service delivery jobs now soaring by 8,610 since 2019. The vast bulk of the 193,503 strong APS is based in Canberra (70,000) with Victoria and New South Wales coming in next at 32,621 and 25,573, respectively. However despite the startling findings, Mr Chalmers has repeatedly stressed for the private sector to serve at the chief national employer, with business and industry magnates criticising the government for its continuous expansion.
News.com.au
30-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Burnout, underinvestment to blame for productivity slump, not working from home: Aussie academic
Overwork, burnout and underinvestment are the cause of falling productivity, not working from home, a workplace expert and academic says. A major report released this week by the Productivity Commission has found working from home at least some of the time is more productive than being in the office full-time. Multinational companies are mostly pulling the rank and file workers back into offices, while government agencies and academics work to assess the effectiveness of the pandemic-era work from home shift. 'There's no evidence to suggest working from home is the root cause of these recent productivity challenges, which have been going since long before most people were working from home,' Swinburne University workplace expert  John Hopkins said. 'Overwork, burnout, underinvestment, outdated processes, and cost of living pressures are likely factors behind poor productivity.' During the federal election campaign, the Coalition quickly-abandoned a proposal for public servants to be back in offices five days a week. The architect of that failed policy, Liberal Senator Jane Hume, said in the lead-up to the election: 'It will be an expectation of a Dutton Liberal government that all members of the (Australian Public Service) work from the office five days a week. But the proposal was so despised it was abandoned mid-campaign, and Senator Hume has since been dumped from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley's newly-minted shadow cabinet. Released on Thursday, the Productivity Commission report finds arrangements where staff work from both the office and at home tend to benefit both productivity and job satisfaction. 'Allowing workers to work from home some days can improve worker satisfaction and allows people to benefit by avoiding the commute to work, meaning they have additional time for other purposes,' the commission finds. Working from home reduces sick days, breaks and distractions 'all of which are typically found to be beneficial for productivity', it says in the report. About 36 per cent of working Australians regularly do a shift from home; a tripling since before the pandemic. Working from home is markedly better for women, the Productivity Commission finds, however younger workers miss out on face-to-face learning. The report points to falling business investment as the reason national productivity fell by 1.2 per cent in 2024.
Epoch Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Labor Defends Consultant Cuts as It Takes Aim at Coalition's Public Service Slashes
While Labor targeted Coalition's plan to cut 41,000 public servants as a point of contention, it has also defended its own move to slash 54,000 private consultants. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers argue Labor is targeting waste, not essential services. Albanese added that Labor's cuts were about value for money. 'We are cutting on wasteful spending,' he said. 'A public service officer works for a reasonable wage—$200,000 for a senior role—but a consultant for the same role works half the time, getting paid double the amount under the Coalition.' He said the Coalition's reliance on consultants had real consequences. 'The consultant culture led to 42,000 veterans being denied their entitlements—men and women who had served our nation in uniform, some of whom passed away before they got the entitlements they had earned,' he said. Related Stories 3/3/2025 3/27/2025 'We are backing Australians. Peter Dutton is sacking Australians.' Impact on Vital Agencies Albanese warned the Coalition's cuts would gut key public services, including Services Australia, the Australian Defence Force, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the National Emergency Management Agency. He questioned what would happen to critical agencies if 41,000 public service jobs were lost. 'What happens with ASIO, with Operation Sovereign Borders, with the Australian Signals Directorate?' he asked. 'These security and defence agencies represent more than 20,000 of the 68,000 public servants currently in Canberra; 41,000 of them are going to be sacked. That will have a devastating impact on Australian services.' Billions in Savings Defended Chalmers said Labor had already saved billions by cutting back on consultants, and would continue reducing waste. 'We are making billions of dollars of savings, investing in the capacity of the Australian Public Service, while winding back outrageous levels of spending on contractors and consultants,' he said. He dismissed claims that the figures were 'creative accounting.' 'When we came to office, the public service was hollowed out. Too much spending on contractors and consultants,' he said. Chalmers accused Dutton of borrowing policies from overseas. 'He wants the Americanisation of health, the public service, and education,' he said. 'He draws his inspiration from U.S. politics and slogans. We believe in the capacity of the Australian Public Service.' Coalition: No Forced Job Losses Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has downplayed the fallout from the proposed cuts, saying that no jobs would be lost outside Canberra. 'We've been very clear about that,' Dutton said, adding that some of the 41,000 positions could come from existing vacancies. Nationals Leader David Littleproud said many of the positions were already vacant and would simply not be filled. The Coalition confirmed frontline and national security roles would be protected, and there would be no forced redundancies. The projected $7 billion in savings is to be delivered over five years through voluntary exits, unfilled vacancies, and a freeze on new hiring.
Canberra Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Canberra Times
Top secretary hands in surprise resignation
"Professor Davis was instrumental in driving this change. He worked calmly and steadily to reassert the purpose of the public service, and I thank him on behalf of the government, the Australian Public Service, and the Australian people."
