Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(1) (a) and (b) The impact of the original 1.5 per cent and the additional 2.5% efficiency dividends on the former Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research in 2012-13 are $3.3 million and $8.3 million respectively. The funding that transferred from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations as a result of the machinery of government changes in December 2011, was net of the efficiency dividend impact, therefore it is not possible to accurately quantify the impact of the efficiency dividend over the forward estimates. It is estimated to be in the order of $20 million from 2012-13 to 2015-16 or $5 million per year.

(1) (c) The impact on the department in 2012-13 from other savings measures announced in the 2012-13 Budget papers is $0.156 million

(2) The Department will in the first instance seek to manage the impacts of the efficiency dividends through further cost savings and natural attrition in staffing levels. The Department will continually seek to find further reductions in discretionary expenditure.

(3) Staff costs represent 58 per cent of total departmental expenditure.

(4 ) ( a) The net movement in staff is expected to be around 150 staff due mainly to natural attrition. (b) Whilst reductions in consultants and contractors are expected for the financial year, at this stage the exact impact is yet to be determined.

(5) If required, the Department will seek to redeploy staff across the organisation where possible, hence voluntary or involuntary redundancies are not planned for at this stage.

(6) Due to System limitations, the Department is only able to provide the headcount figures of staff across band classifications as at 30 June 2012.