The Minister for Finance has announced that the Australian Public Service’s Average Staffing Levels (ASL) are to be increased by 5,364 staff members in the coming financial year, a service-wide increase to 174,276.
In his preface to Budget Paper No. 4, the Minister, Senator Simon Birmingham said that while the steady nature of the ASL in recent years had led to some APS services going online – which was a good thing – the need to support and improve essential services for vulnerable people as part of the recovery from the COVID pandemic had led to the increase.
Senator Birmingham said the uplift in ASL would apply in the Education, Skills and Employment portfolio, in Health, Social Services, Veterans’ services, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and the new Commonwealth Agencies, the Australian Climate Service (ACS) and National Recovery and Resilience Agency (NRRA) and some others.
“All decisions have been taken in line with the Government’s policy to manage the size of Government administration through the careful assessment of the need for additional staff,” Senator Birmingham said.
“This includes an ongoing requirement that Agencies first inform the Government whether there are opportunities to reprioritise resources from other activities before requesting additional ASL.”
He said that some uplift in the ASL was temporary and would naturally decline when relevant policies ceased.
“Sustainment of some of this additional ASL will continue to be required over much of the forward estimates,” he said.
“However, recent growth is expected to moderate as the economy continues to recover and grow, while the continued investment in digital capabilities will support further ASL prioritisation in future years.”
Senator Birmingham said this was particularly the case for many COVID‑19 response initiatives and other strategies that aimed to resolve problems, or reduce them to more manageable levels.
“ASL increases in the short term reflect major efforts to address an unusual convergence of health, economic and social challenges,” he said.
