Defence and social services have emerged as the biggest winners in a 17,000-strong increase to the federal public service.
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While Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has labelled the jobs as "Canberra-centric", promising to redirect more funding to Defence, analysis by The Canberra Times shows the Defence portfolio will grow the most next financial year - by 6774 places - if military jobs are included.
But excluding military and reserves, an injection of thousands of service delivery jobs sees the Social Services and Treasury portfolios expand the most.
Social Services will grow by 3472 roles in the next financial year - largely spread across Services Australia and the National Disability Insurance Agency - while Treasury's growth is predominantly linked to a 1771 increase to staffing in the Tax Office.
The budget papers revealed a significant increase to the size of the public service in the next financial year, with Average Staffing Level (ASL) to grow by 12,041 places. The ASL measure differs from an overall headcount of the public service, providing an average number of full-time equivalent employees.
The government also revealed that it had funded an additional 5248 public service jobs in the 2023-24 year - on top of what was reported in the May 2023 budget - bringing the total size of the service to 209,150, or 294,287 inclusive of military and reserves.
Though Mr Dutton used his budget reply on Thursday, May 16, to hint that a Coalition government would overhaul funding, both he and the spokesperson for the public service, Jane Hume, have refused to say whether they would cut jobs, or how many would be on the line.
Labor has in turn claimed Mr Dutton has committed to slashing billions from the APS. "[The Opposition Leader] needs to explain exactly where those cuts will come from," Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher said.
The comments escalate the opposition's strategy to target the boom in public service jobs as wasteful, provoking a debate about the use of taxpayer funds in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.
![Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher. Pictures by Keegan Caroll Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher. Pictures by Keegan Caroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/143258707/bf03b5f3-2cce-4b28-9773-9ba88123f4ab.png/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Labor has in turn claimed Mr Dutton has committed to slashing billions from the public service.
"[The Opposition Leader] needs to explain exactly where those cuts will come from," Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher said.
"Cuts like that would devastate the Canberra economy and would decimate service delivery for essential public services across Australia - like paying pensions, Medicare services, veterans support and aged care."
While the budget papers do not indicate where jobs will be allocated, they do reflect the investment in government services - jobs which are spread across the country to deal with demand.
Treasury has also reported a significant boost, though this is largely due to about 1700 places promised to the Australian Taxation Office.
Notable increases have also been made to several smaller agencies which are in the process of being established.
The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service will grow to 59 ASL places, while the National Reconstruction Fund will increase by 67 places to a total of 104.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission will receive funding for 66 more places, while the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission will grow by 10, and the Australian Submarine Agency by 187 spots.
The majority of the departments reported increases to staffing, with half of them among the top beneficiaries in the next financial year.
Together they will receive an ASL increase of 3513.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will receive a boost of 702 places, with the agency reporting that it has been able to reduce its reliance on staff from 22.5 per cent of the total workforce in September 2022, to 10.6 per cent as of May 2024.
Several departments did decrease in size, including the Attorney General's Department and Veterans' Affairs, while the Department of Social Services dropped by just three places.
While Veterans' Affairs has received additional funding worth $194.4 million over four years from 2024-25 to streamline claims processing, its staffing reduced by 78.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will also shrink by 146 places.
The Canberra Times revealed in April that the agency was considering job cuts, with the main public sector union fearful that more than 400 jobs could be on the line.
The public service has increased by about 36,000 places since Labor came to power, but Senator Gallagher defends the growth as necessary and transparent.
Labor has lashed the Coalition-era decision to tie the size of the public service to 2006-07 levels of about 167,596.
This led to increased reliance on outsourced work, with an audit finding an external workforce of nearly 54,000 - costing $20.8 billion - in the 2021-22 financial year.
Senator Gallagher has committed to a second audit of the external workforce in the next financial year, which will determine whether Labor has achieved its election promise to slash spending on consultants, contractors and labour hire.
"They had this fake number that they said, 'This is the size of the public service.' It wasn't anywhere near that size, it was much bigger," she told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, May 15.
"They had a shadow workforce that was off the books, what we're trying to do is take that shadow workforce, where we can, make them public servants, make us accountable and publish those details in the budget."
But Senator Hume says the Coalition is "committed to providing a world class public service with value for taxpayer's money".
"For example, Labor needs to explain the value of the over 500 additional staff to manage infrastructure investment when they are building fewer roads, or the thousands of additional staff for Services Australia when wait times for payments have blown out since they were elected."
Wait times at Services Australia did increase under Labor, but have fallen since 3000 additional staff were hired at the beginning of the year.