WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Labor has added 36,000 Canberra-based public servants since taking office.
OUR VERDICT
False. The latest government data shows only 7464 Canberra-based public servants were added between June 2022 and June 2024
AAP FACTCHECK – Labor has not added 36,000 Canberra-based bureaucrats since coming to power, despite claims from the coalition frontbench.
The latest official figures show a net increase of 26,153 Australian Public Service employees from June 2022 (one month after Labor came to power) to June 2024, of which only about 7500 are based in Canberra.
The claim is being pushed by the coalition, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledging to cut "wasteful spending".
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor made the claim in a press conference on January 29, 2025.
"We know they're [Labor] spending a lot more money, and the result of that is we've got the biggest government we've ever seen in our history," Mr Taylor said.
"We've seen Labor adding 36,000 new Canberra based bureaucrats."
He also made the claim in a television interview opposite Finance Minister Katy Gallagher in which he stated: "Over $100 billion of spending we've opposed in this term of parliament, including adding 36,000 new Canberra-based public servants."
Mr Dutton has repeated the claim, stating: "I don't think any Australian can say that their lives are easier in terms of their interactions with government agencies because of 36,000 new public servants being employed in Canberra."
The claim appears to be a key part of the Liberal Party strategy in the lead-up to the next federal election, with a "Priorities of a Dutton Coalition Government" pamphlet stating on page 38: "The size of the public service has exploded under Labor, with 36,000 extra Canberra based bureaucrats employed since the last election."
When asked for the basis of the claim, Mr Taylor's office directed AAP FactCheck to figures published in table 2.3 of Budget Paper No 4, 2024-25 (p181), which show estimates of the average staffing levels of agencies in the general government sector.
This sector includes dozens of government-controlled entities that provide public services, such as government departments, the Bureau of Meteorology, Safe Work Australia, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
The budget paper table does show an increase in the estimate of average staffing levels of general government sector organisations of 36,008 from the end of the financial year 2021-22, roughly when Labor took office in May 2022, projected to the end of the current financial year, in June 2025. This figure excludes military and reserves.
Mr Taylor's office didn't provide evidence that the roles are "Canberra-based", nor does the table provide any information on the location of the projected roles.
Within the wider general government sector is the Australian Public Service (APS), which is overseen by the Australian Public Service Commission.
The APS is the federal government's workforce, responsible for implementing policies, delivering services and advising the Australian government.
Not all general government sector roles come under the APS, for example the AFP, ASIO and the Australian Sports Commission don't engage staff under the Public Service Act 1999.
The commission provided AAP FactCheck with actual headcount figures for the public service for each financial year.
This showed a net increase of 26,153 employees from June 2022 to June 2024, which are the latest available APS figures (table 15).
Of those, 18,689, or 71.5 per cent, are based outside Canberra.
There were only 7464 extra Canberra-based public servants added across this time.
According to the data (table 16), more than 5000 employees were added in Melbourne and more than 3000 in Sydney.
Nearly 900 employees were added in regional Queensland, while regional NSW and the Northern Territory had rises of 484 and 362 respectively.
There's a gap of roughly 10,000 between the APS headcount figure, and the general government sector projection in the budget.
Even in the unlikely scenario that all those extra projected general government sector employees were to be based in Canberra, the maximum amount of new Canberra-based employees would be around 17,000, not the coalition's claimed 36,000.
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