Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every day, millions of us rely on the Australian Public Service up here in Canberra. It can be the small things, like a teenager applying for a tax file number, a new parent getting their first parental leave payment or a small business owner accessing natural disaster relief after a devastating bushfire that put their livelihoods and those of their employees on the line. When our Public Service is at its best, it is an effective and meaningful tool to advance our national interests, but too often it was kneecapped under the previous Liberal government. We're here today to get on with fixing that. The decisions made by our Public Service, whether they be policy development, service delivery or any one of the other functions that they perform, leave an imprint on everything that we do. It's simply too important for us not to get it right.

We should be glad that as a country we have a public service that is dedicated to working tirelessly on behalf of the Australian public. They are so often selfless, working in pursuit of a shared purpose and, indeed, our shared values. They don't do it for the money or the status; they're in it for the greater good. People join the APS because they have a drive for progress, whether it's in social welfare, international relations, infrastructure and transport, or so many other areas. They are renowned for their frank and fearless advice. Our Public Service has already helped deliver two budgets during the first year of the Albanese government. They have contributed immensely through assisting in the development of our cost-of-living plan, pushing forward the housing agenda to get more roofs over peoples' heads, making it easier and cheaper to see a bulk-billed doctor and implementing our cheaper childcare plan, amongst so many other examples.

They do so much for us, they work hard to deliver good outcomes, and these workers deserve our respect. But they need to be armed with the right skills and be empowered by the government of the day to do their jobs to the standard that our community expects. That's what this is all about—helping our Public Service to keep helping Australians. This legislation forms part of the Albanese government's commitment to rebuild the Australian Public Service. That's why I'm speaking in support of this bill today, because it's something that we need to get on with urgently. It's imperative that we enshrine greater transparency and accountability in our system of government. Trust in politics and the Public Service forms the bedrock of our institutions. When there's a breakdown in that trust, we all suffer.

If the last decade under the previous Liberal government showed us anything, it showed us what can happen when a lack of trust festers and dishonesty is left to run rampant. It doesn't take long to find the egregious examples from the former government, whether it's sports rorts, regional rorts, airport rorts or water rorts. And who could forget car park rorts? A few colour-coded spreadsheets later, and we saw public trust in government totally eroded. The final nail in the coffin came when the post-mortem analysis was in full swing, with the revelation that the former Prime Minister secretly appointed himself to several ministries without notifying his cabinet, other ministers or the Australian people. The lack of transparency and accountability experienced under the previous government leaves a shameful shadow over the last decade. It lingers over all of the decisions made during that time, hanging on like a bad smell. Not only that, but throughout the preceding decades it was always the Liberals who constantly and continually diminished the role of the Public Service. They disrespected their skills, experience and expertise, all for the posturing pursuit of a fictional few dollars on their budget bottom line.

This clearly came at the expense of good governance and a strong Public Service, as has been exposed to within an inch of its life in the media over the last decade. Those opposite had to learn those skills somewhere. The Howard government treated cost-cutting like a competitive sport, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Privatisation and lay-offs were too common, and they left our Public Service in worse shape than ever. During Howard's reign, he oversaw the loss of about 30,000 Public Service jobs—a national shame. This carried on under the previous Liberal government, who in their 2015-16 budget brought in changes to the public sector workforce, including the average staffing level cap. This arbitrary and damaging workforce cap was implemented to maintain employment numbers at 2006-07 levels. This of course forced the previous Liberal government to outsource to labour hire firms at record levels to deliver the core business of the Australian Public Service.

We're getting on with cleaning up the mess that they left behind, with budget forecasts showing we're on track to increase the workforce by more than 10,000 people across 2023-24. Just prior to the last election, in May 2022, they once again tried to pull a similar trick—announcing their election commitments would be miraculously funded through further cuts to the Public Service. This came in the wake of all of the rorts and controversies that they were at that stage so well known for. That's because, when cutting is all you know how to do—

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