The Coalition says the quality of the public service is declining despite its numbers growing. 

Shadow Minister for the Public Service, Senator Jane Hume, says that although there has been an increase of 10,000 public servants, this has not resulted in improved services.

“I don’t know about you, but have you felt like you’ve seen 10,000 public servants better off in terms of the service,” she said in an interview with Sky News. 

“In fact, we’ve seen delivery times decrease in some areas. So, I’d very much like to understand exactly what those 10,000 new public servants are doing.”

Hume compared the growth in the public service headcount to that of large private sector entities.

“Myer Australia has about 10,000 employees in total. Virgin Australia has around 10,000 employees in total. So they put the same number of employees on as there is in the whole of Virgin Australia, into the public service in just two years alone,” she said. 

“Now that's pretty exceptional. And if you're not receiving the services you expect and deserve with that investment. Well, what was the point?”

In addition to her critique of public service management, Hume has also addressed regulatory policy design. 

Speaking at the Australia Wealth Summit, she called for greater stakeholder involvement in regulatory processes. 

Hume said a future Coalition government would ensure that stakeholders, and not just politicians or public servants, drive the design of regulatory policies. 

She mentioned the need to reassess existing regulations periodically to balance the costs of compliance with the benefits to the community.

“There are workable ways to do this. For instance, a requirement to undertake a Regulatory Impact Statements (RIS) with each new policy encourages the policymakers to consciously consider the burden that new laws will have on our economy,” Hume said. 

“The problem, of course, is that a Regulatory Impact Statement is only effective if governments pay attention to them.”

Hume sketched out a framework for policy design which she says would ensure regulations are fit for purpose, provide proportionate protections, and facilitate innovation and growth. 

One specific initiative she proposed was a ‘tell them once’ system to streamline business interactions with government agencies. 

“Telling different parts of government the same information in different, separately prescribed ways is burdensome and rarely productive,” she said.

“A Coalition government will therefore consult on a ‘tell them once’ system, to examine how we can better align government agencies and regulators to limit the burden on Australian businesses, to be rolled out across key portfolios.”

She also said that too much important work was being done “in isolation by a bureaucrat in the Treasury or a politician in the ministerial suite”, and pledged that “under a Dutton Coalition Government, cabinet discipline will require new legislation and regulations to be subject to consultation by impacted stakeholders and an appropriate implementation timeline, including a transition period, if appropriate”.