Peter Dutton says he will cut the Australian Public Service by the same amount it has grown under the Labor Government – 41,000 employees. He and Bridget McKenzie say they will work out which jobs need to be cut when they are in government.

But where is the evidence there are too many public servants?

Our research shows:

• The Australian Public Service is not large in historical terms nor in international comparison
• Keeping public service employment numbers low is not efficient. Experience shows service delivery suffers and/or money is spent on contractors, consultants and labour hire workers to meet demand. 
• When the Albanese government took office, there was recognised under-investment in the public service. More staff were needed.
• Underinvestment in the Australian Public Service was due to previous governments keeping public service numbers artificially low by placing a cap on staffing.

The Services Australia annual report for 2023–2024 includes the following summary of improved service delivery outcomes following the recruitment of 5,000 ongoing staff in the latter part of 2023 and in January 2024.

In July 2024 staff were:

• answering Centrelink calls six minutes faster than in January 2024

• answering Medicare customer calls nine minutes faster than in January 2024

• processing Paid Parental Leave claims in four days, down from 25 days

• processing Job Seeker claims in six days, down from 22 days

•  processing Medicare Online Account claims in two days, down from 11 days.

So who is doing this work? Yes, public servants.

Saying you will cut 41,000 jobs and it will have no impact does not stand up to scrutiny – and when we look at what happening when the Morrison government replaced public servants with consultants the line does not stand up to reality.