Are We Really A Country Of Pen-Pushers?

Cuts to the public service could hurt efficiency

The Abbott government has continually insisted that a Rudd-Gillard government were responsible for a dramatic rise in unnecessary public servants. Although the growth rate of the Australian public service has not even kept pace with population growth or the growth of the workforce as a whole. Ian McAuley and Christopher Stone discuss the proposed cuts to the Australian public service and ask whether we are actually burdened by our administrative bureaucracy.

“There are many other productivity reforms that various commissions of inquiry have recommended for the public service, mainly through improving managerial and technical competencies, and through removing some of the shackles that have been imposed on the public service, generally covered by the term “managerialism”, including burdensome accounting requirements and petty financial controls.”

Next month Christopher Stone, CPD research director, will he release the final instalment of the False economies report series suggesting alternative methods to cuts for improving efficiency.

Read the article at New Matilda

Download part 1 and part 2 of False economies

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