The re-election of the Albanese government is a win for the Australian Public Sector, says the industry union.
Speaking to GN, national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union Melissa Donnelly said: “This is a great result for the APS and every Australian who relies on public services.”
Leading up to the federal election campaign opposition leader Peter Dutton attacked the Albanese government for increasing the APS workforce by 36,000 since coming into power in 2022.
In a move designed to crack down on “government efficiency”, Dutton made a campaign pledge to cut 41,000 Canberra-based public servants from the APS if elected to government. The policy, claimed Dutton, would save $24 billion.
The move – widely compared to the culling of US government agencies by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency – attracted widespread criticism and negative headlines. “Dutton makes Doge look restrained,” Labor MP Andrew Leigh said.
In an attempt to row back his stance, Dutton assured voters frontline services would be protected. There would also be no forced redundancies, he said. The cuts would be achieved over five years through a hiring freeze and natural attrition instead. Exactly which APS roles would be cut was never explained.
South Australian Greens Senator Barbara Pocock warned voters not to be fooled by Dutton’s assurances. “He still aims to cut 41,000 government jobs that provide vital services to the Australian community. He just plans to do it slowly. The impact will be the same, a reduced capacity across all government departments and frontline agencies,” she said.
The backlash forced Dutton to scrap the plan. “We’re listening to what people have to say. We’ve made a mistake in relation to the policy. We apologise for that,” the opposition leader said.
This is a great result for the APS
Donnelly told GN the election campaign made it clear that Australians want and value strong public services. “The Coalition’s plan to rip jobs and services out of communities across the country was a direct threat to that, and voters rightly rejected it,” she said.
With Labor scoring a second term, APS numbers are forecast to rise further – the March budget allowed the workforce to expand by more than 213,000 during 2025-26.
The Albanese government’s bolstering of the APS is in response to the Morrison-led Coalition government spending $20.8bn outsourcing more than a third of public service operations.
Donnelly told GN: “The CPSU looks forward to continuing the important work of rebuilding the capability and capacity of the public service, including cracking down on the use of consultants, contractors and labour hire.”
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