The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) is pleased to see significant progress in the insourcing of more than $527 million worth of labour hire, contractor, and consultant expenditure within the Australian Public Service (APS).
The insourcing of core public sector work is a crucial step in rebuilding the APS and enhancing its integrity, capability and capacity to deliver the services that Australians rely on every day.
The CPSU wants the government to establish clear and consistent target-setting and reporting requirements across agencies. This would not only enhance transparency and accountability but also enable agencies to more effectively identify and capitalise on opportunities for insourcing.
The union looks forward to supporting agencies as they insource the roles they have identified and continue to look for more opportunities to bring APS work back in house.
Quotes attributable to Melissa Donnelly, CPSU National Secretary:
"The Liberals' APS was one that relentlessly cut public sector jobs, imposed arbitrary staffing caps on agencies and handed their work over to Peter Dutton's mates in the private sector.
"In the final year alone of that government, the outsourcing bill totalled $21 billion and APS capability and capacity had been decimated.
"In October 2023, the CPSU's ongoing advocacy led to the establishment of an APS wide framework of reporting that requires agencies to prioritise insourcing. The Strategic Commissioning Framework works to rebuild the APS by bringing core APS work back in house.
"This saving is a half a billion-dollar step towards increasing the integrity, capability and capacity of the public service.
"CPSU members across the public service will be ensuring agencies understand and meet their obligations and representatives are raising these matters at the APS Consultative Committee and at Agency Consultative Forums.
"Moving forward, consistency in how agencies establish targets and report on their progress will be key to achieving the objective of the framework.
