Budget Resources
Philip Hamilton and Kate Laing
Staffing
From 2015–16 the previous Coalition Government undertook to
maintain the size of the General Government Sector (GGS)—excluding military and
reserves—at around or below the 2006–07 ASL of 167,596
(2016–17 Budget paper no. 4, page 132).
In an election commitment the ALP undertook to
abolish the so-called ‘ASL cap’.
In 2023–24, the Average Staffing Level (ASL) in the GGS—excluding
military and reserves—is projected to increase by 6% to 191,861 (Budget paper no. 4, page 153). Some of
the increase derive from ongoing or increased funding for ‘critical services’,
and a reduced reliance on contractors, consultants, and external labour hire.
Specifically, 3,314 formerly external roles have been converted to ASL,
including more than 1,000 from Defence (Budget paper no. 4, page 154).
The main public sector union welcomed the ‘ongoing
commitment to rebuilding the capability and capacity of the Australian Public
Service’. However, it also maintains that Services Australia’s staffing levels are
below requirements. Post-budget media reporting has summarised
gains and losses of ASL in portfolios and selected agencies.
Agency bargaining
Although not a specific Budget measure, Budget paper no.
4 mentions that Australian Public Service (APS) bargaining will ‘support a
more inclusive and diverse workplace and help the APS attract and retain the
skills it needs’ (page 10). As one of the first steps in the process, the Australian
Public Service Commission (APSC) has released the Public Sector Workplace Relations Policy 2023.
Some commentators have observed
that there remains an ‘internal tech skills deficit within the APS’ and that current
APS salaries do not address.
Efficiency Dividend
Since 1987–88 successive Australian governments have usually
applied an Efficiency Dividend (ED) to Australian
Government agencies’ ‘departmental’ (operating) expenses. The ED essentially reduces
funding by a specified percentage, to account for increased productivity over
time. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher endorsed the ED in April 2023; however, the
ED rate is not separately identified in the current Budget. The Library’s Budget review 2022–23 included a brief
summary of ED implementation over recent years.
Capability
To further reduce spending on
external labour, the government has allocated $18.5 million over two years from
the APS Capability Reinvestment Fund (Budget paper 2, page 189). This
includes $10.9 million over two years to ‘provide start-up funding for an
in-house consulting service within the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet that can deliver high-quality strategic consulting services to the APS’
(page 189). This comes after media reporting into PwC leaks about tax
policy, commentary on the extent of external labour hire, the release
of the Government’s audit of employment report, and
the ongoing Senate inquiry into the management of consultant services.
The UK Government established a similar in-house Government
Consulting Hub (GCH) two years ago before abolishing
it on 31 January 2023.
A further $8.4 million has been allocated to projects that
will ‘uplift capability across the [APS], including cultural competency, gender
impact analysis and futures analysis skills for APS staff’. The APSC has been allocated
$3.4 million to increase First Nations employment within the APS (page 189).
Treasury has been allocated $10.0 million over 4 years from
2023–24 and $2.1 million per year ongoing to ‘establish a central evaluation
function within Treasury to provide leadership and improve evaluation
capability across Government, including support to agencies and leading a small
number of flagship evaluations each year’ (page 213).
ICT projects
The Finance Minister has emphasised ‘significant and
targeted investment in data and digital capability as a foundational building
block to enable the APS to provide better outcomes and services for the
Australian people’ (Budget paper no. 4, page 4). Post-Budget
media reporting assessed that the Budget allocated more than $2 billion overall to
digital and ICT related projects, and listed agency- and portfolio-specific public sector ICT
initiatives.
Examples of these budget measures include:
- Nine
National Collecting Institutions will share in $535.3 million over 4 years from
2023–24 and $118.3 million per year ongoing to support their operations and
‘long-term financial sustainability’. This includes $146.1 million over 4 years
from 2023–24 and $31.2 million per year ongoing for the National Library of
Australia for the continuation of the Trove
digital database, and other projects such as the extension of storage
facilities, building maintenance and IT infrastructure (pages 177-178)
- $46.5
million over 4 years from 2023–24 and $11.8 million per year ongoing for the
Department of Home Affairs to establish the Coordinator for Cyber Security
(page 156)
- $58.0
million over 3 years from 2023–24 to establish the National
Anti-Scam Centre within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
It would appear legislation is not necessary for this initiative. This entity
will improve scam data sharing across government and the private sector, with a
further $17.6 million over 4 years for the Australian Securities and
Investments Commission to identify and take down phishing websites (page 211)
- $16.4
million over 4 years to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the Life
Course Data Initiative, which aims to interrupt cycles of intergenerational
disadvantage (page 206). A further $156.7 million over 4 years is allocated to
continue modernising and replacing the ABS’ legacy ICT systems, including
transitioning key data assets to a secure cloud environment (page 208)
- $32.7
million over 4 years to the Bureau of Meteorology to provide a single digital
platform for national online water data management, a new website to publish current
water market information, and water market data standards (page 82)
- $254.1
million over 4 years and $56.1 million ongoing to modernise and sustain the Department
of Veterans’ Affairs ICT systems (page 93).
The Australian Electoral Commission, Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and Treasury are
also allocated funding for ICT upgrades (pages 112, 121, 168 and 213).
This funding is consistent
with the draft Data and Digital Government strategy (with
the final version due for
release by the end of 2023). The
strategy ‘will accelerate the Government’s uptake of data and digital
capabilities and drive more cost-effective data and digital investment’ (Budget
Paper no.4, page 3).
The current myGov
platform will receive $134.5 million in 2023–24; however, the response to the Critical National Infrastructure: myGov user audit recommendations
will determine future funding.
My Health Record received
$429.0 million for further modernisation and secure data sharing. This is
alongside provisioned funding for cross-jurisdictional data sharing through the
Intergovernmental Agreement on National Digital Health
with states and territories.
The Government continues to
resource the Digital ID program development,
allocating $24.7 million for the Department of Finance and the Digital
Transformation Agency (DTA) (page 113). This will assist the DTA to continue
designing policy and legislative foundations to ‘transition to an economy-wide
Digital ID ecosystem’. Despite the Digital Identity Bill being
expected in Parliament by the end of 2023, a 2022 Parliamentary Library Flagpost highlighted stakeholder concerns about the
proposed draft legislation.
Operations
Procurement
As foreshadowed in the
October 2022–23 budget, the Future Made in Australia Office is implementing the Buy Australian Plan within the Department of Finance (Finance). In this
Budget, Finance has been allocated $18.1 million over 4 years to ‘improve Government
procurement processes for business’. Specific emphasis will be on improving APS
digital and data capabilities, and particularly the AusTender database. This funding will also improve businesses’ procurement
opportunities, increase engagement of small and medium enterprises, and improve
APS-wide procurement and contract management capability. An increase in fees
Commonwealth entities pay to use Finance’s coordinated procurement arrangements
will offset this funding cost (page 111).
Property
To reverse a reported previous funding cut, the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been allocated $250.2 million over
4 years from 2023–24 and $69.8 million per year ongoing for overseas property
expenses (page 121).
The Budget includes $5.7 million over 7 years from 2023–24
for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s ‘participation in the design
and build of, and transition to, the new … Precinct’ (page 121). This refers to
the National Security Office Precinct, located in
York Park, Barton (ACT). The Precinct’s development commenced in 2020 and aims
for ‘a permanent solution to the critical accommodation and capability
requirements of several national security and other Commonwealth agencies’. The
Precinct will also include hospitality and retail amenities servicing up to
5,000 occupants and the wider public. In 2023 and 2024 a multi-level car park
will be constructed adjacent to the John Gorton Building in Parkes (ACT), while
construction of the main York Park Precinct is expected to commence in early
2025. The October 2022 Budget provided undisclosed resources due to commercial
and national security reasons (Budget paper no. 2, pages 107–108).
Indian Ocean Territories and
Norfolk Island
The Budget provides $31.1 million over 4 years from 2023–24
and $1.0 million per year ongoing to ‘support the delivery of essential
services and infrastructure to the Indian Ocean Territories and Norfolk Island’.
Funding includes $6.0 million over 4 years from 2023–24 and $1.0 million per
year ongoing to ‘support the work health and safety of workers in the Indian
Ocean Territories and Norfolk Island’ (page 174).
In addition, the Budget allocates $24.4 million over 3 years
from 2023–24 to ‘upgrade rockfall and landslide infrastructure and repair roads
and footpaths’ on Christmas Island, and $0.7 million in 2023–24 has been
allocated to support ‘the delivery of state-type services’ on Norfolk Island. The
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications
and the Arts will collect and retain non-taxation revenue for activities on
Norfolk Island. This includes ‘museum pass entry fees, rental income, and gift
and merchandise sales to directly fund maintenance at the Kingston and Arthur’s
Vale Historic Area World Heritage site’ (page 174).
The Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital
and External Territories is currently undertaking an inquiry into
local government models and equitable revenue sources to support the Norfolk
Island Regional Council.
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