29 April 2022

1000 frontline jobs in Labor plan to rebuild public service

| Ian Bushnell
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Senator Katy Gallagher speaks at podium

Senator Katy Gallagher: “The last two years have shown just how important it is to have the APS resourced appropriately”. Photo: Region Media.

Labor has pledged more than 1000 new secure APS frontline service delivery jobs and less reliance on labour hire and consultancies as part of its plan to reinvigorate the public service.

Public Service spokesperson Senator Katy Gallagher said Labor if elected would spend $500 million rebalancing and rebuilding APS capacity and capability after years of cuts from the Morrison Government and wasteful spending on outsourcing work to the private sector that could be done in house.

Labor’s already announced promise to abolish the staffing cap will be accompanied by a reduction in spending on private external labour by $3 billion over four years.

The new frontline jobs, totalling 1080 positions, will be at Services Australia, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Disability Insurance Agency.

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Senator Gallagher said Labor’s plan would reverse the Morrison Government’s privatisation of the public service by stealth.

“At the same time as cutting front-line jobs, the Liberals have presided over a significant increase in spending on private external labour including consultants, contractors and labour hire firms,” she said.

This was not only costing taxpayers more but also condemning tens of thousands of public sector workers to the risks and stresses of insecure work, Senator Gallagher said.

She said Labor’s Plan to Reduce Waste and Reinvest in the Australian Public Service built on previous commitments made as part of Labor’s Plan for Secure Australian Jobs.

“The last two years have shown just how important it is to have the APS resourced appropriately so that it can meet the needs of and deliver services to the Australian community,” Senator Gallagher said.

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Senator Gallagher has previously said that Labor would convert inappropriate temporary contracts to permanent positions. They would conduct an audit to identify insecure work within the APS, limit the number of consecutive fixed-term contracts an employer can offer for the same role, with an overall cap of 24 months and ensure labour-hire staff receive no less than workers employed directly.

She said that prior to the pandemic the APS had lost 12,000 jobs.

The public servants union said the commitment to limiting expensive consultancies and instead reinvesting in secure public sector jobs would make a big start to reversing the extensive damage caused by Coalition Governments.

The CPSU said Labor’s frontline jobs commitment would make a genuine difference to services and ease the pressure on staff.

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National Secretary Melissa Donnelly said Labor’s commitment to scrap the arbitrary cap on secure work would mean thousands of workers in insecure labour contracts will get the opportunity for secure jobs.

“There are talented staff across the APS who can do the work currently being handed to consultants and contractors,” she said.

“It is in the interests of both the capacity of the APS and staff to keep this work in-house. Every time public sector work is siphoned off to consultants it is a missed opportunity to build capacity and capability and in a tightening labour market if staff are constantly overlooked for consultants, they’ll simply go elsewhere.

“Labor’s commitments will also help restore transparency and accountability to government. Ministers like to go to consultants because the minister can be sure they will get the answer they want.”

Ms Donnelly said Labor’s commitments would help reduce waiting times and improve access to services in critical areas such as Veterans’ claims processing, Centrelink and Medicare services and the NDIS.

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Katy Gallagher….how does she have a job ..she is totally useless at everything she touches
couldn’t mange a school cake stall
is really sad how ALL politicians we have at all levels of goverment are totally useless

It’s going to be great when labor oust Zed. I’m hoping for heaps more handouts, especially a rise in the dole and more freebies

As I read this, the ALP is going to cut $3 billion in consultants and contractors fees and spend $500 million on new employees.

My question is how many jobs are lost when the consultants and contractors are axed and how many jobs are created with the $500 million?

Once they are elected I will live like a king

And Labor, dismantle the Department of Home Affairs; a disgraceful mish-mash of unrelated functions amalgamated together by an individual more concerned about doing a Phil Collins solo for his own personal satisfaction than for community protection and harmony.

HiddenDragon8:00 pm 30 Apr 22

What’s not clear from these ALP plans for the APS –

https://www.alp.org.au/policies/labors-plan-to-reduce-waste-and-reinvest-in-the-australian-public-service

is how an ALP government would deal with the eternally thorny issue of managing total spending on staffing (regardless of how engaged). There was extensive discussion of the issue in the report of the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration, which was established by the Whitlam government and reported to the Fraser government in 1976 –

https://apo.org.au/node/34221 [see Chapter 9]

That’s almost in the realms of medieval history now, but clear solutions are still elusive, and unless the ALP has some clever ideas on sharpening up the definition of and accountability for program objectives, things are going to remain messy.

In the meantime, a would-be government, which is fond of talking about debt and deficit, and waste and mismanagement under the current government, should commit to cutting the bloated numbers in ministerial offices and the top-heavy management structures of APS and related agencies. The growth in both over recent decades has not been matched by obvious improvements in service delivery or public confidence in government.

All those extra APS working four days a week

ChrisinTurner1:45 pm 30 Apr 22

In my experience a major reason for the continued use of contractors, particularly in IT, is that permanent salaries for their work classification do not attract sufficiently capable applicants. People like Senior IT Test Analysts would have to be paid at SES2 levels to be remunerated as well as the current contractors/consultants doing this work.

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