Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week the Albanese Labor government handed down our budget. I want to begin by acknowledging role of the Public Service in delivering that budget. As a former Treasury official, I know the incredibly long hours and stressful work that can go into that over many weeks and months. I want to thank everyone who has been involved in that: the people working at Treasury, at Finance, at Prime Minister & Cabinet; and all the portfolio agencies involved in making the budget happen. This is a huge piece of work, from the advice on the proposals through to getting the documents ready. Then, as this budget is legislated and begins, it is the Public Service who will implement those programs and deliver those services. They are critically important to the services that Australians need every day and also to the proper functioning of our government and our democracy. It's the frank and fearless advice that is provided by the Australian Public Service. I'm very proud that a Labor government has made restoring the Public Service part of this budget. I'm incredibly proud, as the member for Canberra, to represent so many people that work in the Australian Public Service in my electorate.

Our budget includes $72.9 million to rebuild the Australian Public Service and deliver on our ambitious and enduring reform plans. This investment consists of $25 million for our capability reinvestment fund, $7.1 million over two years to deliver net zero emissions in the APS by 2030 and $48.8 million to deliver the APS reform agenda of the Albanese Labor government. These investments include 7,564 positions in the Public Service so that we can deliver the services that the Australian people and businesses require. This is incredibly important. Under this government the insult to the Public Service and the lack of respect for the important role that they play ends. The Canberra bashing ends, the bashing of the Australian Public Service ends. The respect for those people, their professionalism, their expertise and their critical role in service delivery and in policy making gets, again, the respect it deserves.

As I said, I have worked as a public servant in the Treasury. My father spent most of his career in the Public Service, and I've of course worked with public servants through other parts of my work. I want to acknowledge that these are some of the hardest working, most dedicated people in our community, and it's time they got the respect that they deserved. People go into the Public Service because they care about policy issues, they care about the Australian public and they care about service delivery. And they work very hard. Over the last decade, under the previous government, they have been neglected and have experienced cuts. There has been a lot of wasteful spending on consultancies that should have gone into building the capability of the APS. We will see that end under this new Albanese Labor government.

The positions that will be added as part of this budget include 31 extra positions for the National Archives of Australia and 30 extra positions for the National Library of Australia. Our national institutions, again, were absolutely neglected under the previous government, and these institutions belong not just to Canberra but to our whole nation. The Archives and the Library provide an incredibly important role in preserving our history and making it available to Australians, so I'm really pleased that they have been part of this announcement.

I'd like to run through some of the important work that these positions will allow to happen. The measures in the budget include 653 jobs in the Department of Veterans' Affairs to help address delays and long wait times for veterans; 296 jobs in the NDIA and 225 jobs in the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to see people with disabilities and their families get the support they need; 921 jobs in the Department of Home Affairs, which will be critical in addressing visa backlogs and in reuniting families after years of waiting in limbo; and over 1,200 jobs in the ATO, which will ensure that the agency can better address the growing issue of multinational tax avoidance.

I could go on, but I'm running out of time. I want to say thank you to our Public Service. As a government, we absolutely respect you and your important role.