The Coalition government spent a whopping $1.92 billion last year to hire outside companies, contractors, and experts in order to fill the gaps in information technology and digital skills within the public sector. The Minister for Public Service, Katy Gallagher, released this significant amount on Saturday when sharing the latest findings from the Australian Public Service (APS) employment audit.
This audit examined 112 APS entities, but certain agencies like CSIRO, ABC, and parliamentary departments were not included, which means the total spending could be even higher. Overall, the audit discovered that a massive $20.8 billion was spent in the previous financial year on consultants, contractors, and external labor-hire contracts.
This huge amount of money secured the services of about 53,900 full-time equivalent workers. However, most of the $20.8 billion cannot be broken down or specified, except for $3.07 billion. Specifically, the audit revealed that $1.92 billion was spent on external labor hire for “ICT and digital solutions.”
It is likely that the actual figure is even higher, but Defense, which accounted for 76 percent of the total spending on external labor hire, is unable to provide a breakdown of how it allocated its funds for ICT and digital solutions.
Based on the audit report, it is confirmed that $1.92 billion was spent on ICT and digital solutions labor hire. Out of this amount, $1.3 billion was paid to contractors, $429 million went to outsourced service providers, $146 million was allocated for labor hire, and $36.3 million was spent on consultants. These expenditures resulted in the engagement of approximately 10,912 ICT and digital staff, excluding Defense.
Apart from Defense, the departments that spent the most on hiring ICT and digital staff were Social Services and Treasury, with $513 million and $494 million, respectively.
It has been revealed that during the time of the previous government, the number of public servants was limited, but spending on external labor hire and consultants significantly increased. Minister Gallagher stated that the latest audit portrays the true state of the APS workforce under the former Liberal/National Government.
She further criticized the approach of the previous government, stating that while they claimed to limit the size of the public service, they were actually signing contracts worth billions of dollars to outsource work that still needed to be done. This approach weakened the capabilities of various departments and left them understaffed.
The current government has made a commitment to restore the skills and capabilities of the APS.