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Federal public service bloats to record level highs under Anthony Albanese, despite Labor vowing to improve stagnating productivity
Federal public service bloats to record level highs under Anthony Albanese, despite Labor vowing to improve stagnating productivity

Sky News AU

time02-07-2025

  • 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.

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