The Albanese government's decision not use soaring national debt levels as an excuse to welsh on its election pledge to invest in the Australian Public Service comes as a welcome relief.
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In stark contrast to the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, whose first reaction to an economic downturn was always to take the axe to the APS, this government appears committed to rebuilding the public service after more than a decade of cutbacks, wage caps, indifference and neglect.
This recognises that a strong, and adequately resourced, APS is essential to good governance and the provision of important community services.
Mr Albanese and his peers have adopted the view that the APS is a national resource worth investing in over the long term. That is completely at odds with the apparent Coalition view that not only is it a fiefdom that can be used for pork barrelling and jobs for mates but also a costly drain on the national purse.
During their nine-year tenure the Coalition targeted agencies for relocation to key electorates, effectively froze APS salaries, capped recruitment, slashed funding to important national institutions and used the so-called "efficiency dividend" to claw back money.
They were able to get away with this by playing to a section of the community that mistakenly holds the view the public service is a workers' paradise whose staff members have had it far too good for far too long.
The Coalition instead chose to paper over the cracks. Its short sighted and irresponsible policies of bringing in labour hire contractees - many of whom had little or no knowledge of the departments they were going to be working in - came at great cost.
The only real winners were the big labour hire companies, who raked in money by keeping thousands of people, many of whom were receiving less than the permanent public servants they were working with, on a neverending chain of short-term employment agreements.
This made it almost impossible for such workers, who cost the taxpayers $20.8 billion in 2021-22, to obtain bank loans for homes, new cars and the like.
The really good news to come out of last Tuesday's budget was that the Minister for the Public Service Katy Gallagher committed to transitioning a large number of the labour hire workers across to permanent roles within the APS.
About one third of the more than 10,000 new permanent positions are going to people currently holding down temporary labour hire positions. This is a win-win for all concerned. In addition to receiving the appropriate remuneration and entitlements for the work they do, these staff members will now be able to access the training opportunities they need to grow their careers.
The Australian people will, in exchange, benefit from a much more stable APS workforce in which institutional memory doesn't walk out the door every time somebody's contract ends.
That should make a difference to people who have an ongoing relationship with government departments such Department of Veterans Affairs clients, pension and JobSeeker recipients.
This is why the decision to effectively cut back the number of staff employed at Services Australia to what the government claims is "pre-pandemic levels" is the one element of the APS package that doesn't add up.
While the pandemic is out of the headlines it has not gone away. And, as the Treasurer himself predicted last Tuesday, unemployment is expected to increase by more than 25 per cent over the coming year.
Surely now is the time to invest in Services Australia, not to cut it back.
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Responsibility for election comment is taken by John-Paul Moloney of 121 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra. Published by Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd.
