Peter Dutton and his Coalition colleagues have dithered for several weeks on their plans for the Commonwealth public sector.
While being upfront that public service jobs would be targeted, they’ve made numerous contradictory statements about the number of public servants who would be sacked if the Coalition wins the coming election.
But Peter Dutton’s most recent comments confirm that he clearly wants to make significant cuts.
And it’s hard to see how the sackings wouldn’t erode important front line services that many Australians depend on for help and support.
This week the opposition leader declared the Coalition would achieve A$24billion in savings by reducing the size of the public service.
He was unequivocal. The money would be clawed back over four years and would more than cover the Coalition’s promised $9billion injection into Medicare.
Dutton explicitly tied the $24billion in savings to the 36,000 Commonwealth public servants who have been hired since the last election.
‘Under the Labor Party, there are 36,000 additional public servants, that’s at a cost of $6billion a year, or $24billion over the forward estimates. This program totals $9billion over that period. So, we’ve well and truly identified the savings,’ Dutton said.
This week the opposition leader declared the Coalition would achieve A$24billion in savings by reducing the size of the public service.
It echoes Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Trump administration tasked with cutting government waste
While still not nominating a precise number of job cuts, it’s Peter Dutton’s clearest statement of intent to date.
By ‘truly’ identifying the savings, 36,000 jobs are on the line. And it accords with Dutton’s earlier comments that the extra workers are not providing value for money for Australian taxpayers.
‘(They have) not improved the lives of Australians,’ Duttton said.
While this sounds like he wants to dismiss them all, colleagues are more circumspect. Nationals leader David Littleproud said number of job cuts has not yet been decided and Shadow Public Service Minister Jane Hume made similar comments.
The public service head count has grown to 185,343, as of June 2024. So cutting 36,000 staff, or even a large proportion of that number, would be a very significant reduction.
The agencies that added the most public servants between June 2023 and June 2024 were the National Disability Insurance Agency (up 2,193), Defence (up 1,425), Health and Aged Care (up 1,173) and Services Australia (up 1,149).
Many of these extra staff would be providing invaluable front line services to clients and customer who are accessing essential support.
And some of the new public servants replaced more expensive outsourced workers. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has claimed the Albanese government has saved $4billion of taxpayers’ money by reducing spending on consultants and contractors.
The Albanese government has claimed it has already trimmed the fat of government spending by cutting back on consultants and contractors
Rather than the alleged explosion in the size of the bureaucracy, the growth in public service numbers has closely matched the increase in the population. Last year, they accounted for 1.36 per cent of all employed persons, up by only a minuscule degree on the 1.35 per cent in 2016.
According to Dutton, the 36,000 additional public servants hired under Labor all work in Canberra. It was not a slip of the tongue. The claim is also in the Liberal Party’s pre-election pamphlet.
But only 37 per cent of the public service workforce is located in the national capital. Half are based in state capitals. A full quarter of those involved in service delivery work in regional Australia.
The Liberals clearly think they have nothing to lose among Canberra voters, given they have no members or senators from the Australian Capital Territory.
The coming election will no doubt tell us if Canberra bashing still resonates with voters elsewhere in the country. Dutton has clearly made the political judgement that it does.
A change of government often precipitates a clean out at the top of the public service.
When the Howard government was elected in 1996, no fewer than six departmental secretaries were sacked on the night of the long knives. Then prime minister Tony Abbott dismissed four departmental chiefs in one swoop after taking office in 2013.
This pattern of culling senior public servants represents a chilling risk to good policy development. Departmental secretaries concerned about losing their jobs may be reluctant to give the ‘frank and fearless advice’ their positions demand.
Dutton, the 36,000 additional public servants hired under Labor all work in Canberra (pictured at the 2024 Midwinter Ball with wife Kirilly)
Voters are entitled to know what the Coalition has planned for the public service before they cast their ballots.
The lack of detail on job losses is matched by a reluctance to outline spending cuts elsewhere. Dutton has ruled out an Abbott-style audit commission.
He is prepared to cut ‘wasteful’ spending, but won’t say if it may be necessary to also chop some worthwhile outlays to dampen inflationary pressures.
Dutton is adamant that any spending cuts by a government he leads will be determined after the election, not announced before it.
This does nothing for democratic accountability. It does not give the electorate the chance to cast their votes on the basis of an alternative vision from the alternative government.
All Australians, not just public servants, deserve to know before polling day just how deep Dutton and the Coalition are really planning to cut.
