Bureaucrat blow out under Labor

Media Release

31 May 2024

Labor Ministers have confessed they are on a bureaucrat binge, and have already blown out the size of the public service.

Under questioning from Senator Jane Hume, Labor’s Minister for Finance and Minister for the Public Service would not say if she thought the public service could ever grow too big, and could even grow as high as 250,000.

Prior to the 2024-25 Budget, Minister Gallagher confirmed that “our first two budgets have done the heavy lifting…. now that we have provided departments with the resources, they need to do their job, we don't expect significant additional public servants going forward.”

However, public servants numbers have now blown out by an additional 17,000 in the 2024-25 Budget, bringing the total for Labor’s bureaucrat binge to 36,000 since the election.

Labor has now hired almost 50 bureaucrats each and every day since the election.

Minister Gallagher continued to maintain that there had been no blowout.

This followed evidence on Tuesday, when it was revealed that Labor has been hiring staff that their Departments don’t need and didn’t ask for.

Responding to questions from Senator Jane Hume on Tuesday, a department head confirmed that two full-time ongoing positions had been funded in the Budget without the department having asked for them and without the department thinking they were needed.

The department head went on to say that the issue of staffing was only raised with him after legislation implementing the change was introduced into the Parliament and the department was asked to “consider a budget bid for it”.

Shadow Minister for the Public Service, Senator Jane Hume said this example confirmed that there was a complete lack of discipline or respect for taxpayer funds under Labor.

“Labor has bloated the public service by 36,000 since they came to Government. That is almost 50 new bureaucrats each and every day under Labor.

“At a time when Australian businesses and households are needing to show restraint on their own Budgets, it is outrageous that the Albanese Government is out throwing money around for bureaucrats that are not needed.

“This is not spending taxpayers’ money wisely or prudently. It shows a complete lack of respect of where that money comes from.

“Minister Gallagher - a Senator for the ACT - is out there acting like Oprah, basically throwing around ongoing staffing positions to departments that don’t necessarily want or need them.

“How many other Departments did Labor have to beg to submit a budget bid for more staff to create new public service jobs Katy Gallagher could brag about?”