The Albanese government is facing criticism from the Liberals after multiple federal departments moved to cut staff, despite Labor campaigning strongly against public service job losses just a year ago.
Election Promises and Current Reality
During the 2025 election, Labor repeatedly targeted then opposition leader Peter Dutton over Coalition plans to reduce public servant numbers, warning the cuts would come at the expense of jobs and frontline services. Public Service and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was among the most vocal critics, cautioning during the campaign that Coalition budget cuts would mean 'jobs will go and services will go as well'.
Now, a growing number of departments are offering voluntary redundancies as financial pressure tightens across the Australian Public Service. The Department of Home Affairs is among the largest agencies to begin redundancy rounds, offering voluntary exits to staff and managers across its 16,000-strong workforce. Employees at APS and Executive Level are eligible to apply, along with members of the Australian Border Force, although the department's 187 senior executives are excluded.
Wider Impact Across Agencies
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has also frozen recruitment, as a growing number of departments move to offer voluntary redundancies. Those agencies include the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Climate Change and Energy, the Department of Social Services and the Department of Education, as well as the National Indigenous Australians Agency, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Government Response and Opposition Criticism
Finance minister Katy Gallagher rejected claims on Monday that the government was overseeing public service cuts. 'Our job is to provide agencies with the budgets they need to do the job that we ask them to do and that they're required to do, and then secretaries manage those budgets, but we provide the allocation. There is no decision by the government to force redundancies … We do expect agencies to live within the budgets that the government has provided them.'
Opposition finance and public service spokeswoman Claire Chandler said the government was attempting to deflect blame onto the department. 'We hear continual statements from the Labor government that staffing levels are a matter that departments manage at an operational level, but that just goes to show how little responsibility they're willing to take for the billions of taxpayer dollars they're spending,' Chandler said.
