The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has written to the Minister for Finance calling for the upcoming Federal Budget to do away with the Average Staffing Level (ASL) cap on Australian Public Service Agencies, restoring policy capacity and service standards and helping to curb wasteful spending on consultants, contractors and labour hire.
National Secretary of the CPSU, Nadine Flood (pictured) said the ASL cap, introduced under former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, applied arbitrary staffing limits on Departments, forcing Agency heads to increasingly rely on more expensive and less effective and transparent external employment arrangements.
“We’ve been saying for years that the ASL cap is doing damage and needs to be scrapped, but many others have recently spoken in support of our position,” Ms Flood said.
She said the premise of the ASL cap was to keep the Commonwealth public sector at its size in 2007.
“The reality is it’s all smoke and mirrors, with the Government in reality paying more and receiving less through its ballooning use of consultants, contractors and labour hire,” Ms Flood said.
“The Government is hurting itself through this cap but it’s also hurting the general public and, of course, those labour hire workers who should have quality, permanent jobs with a Commonwealth Agency but are instead being kept on tenterhooks doing the same work for less pay and with worse working conditions while the labour hire firm turns a fat profit.”
Ms Flood said the ASL cap also made Commonwealth Agencies less transparent, because outsourcing was synonymous with secrecy.
