State government lifts public service hiring freeze
The state government will be able to hire more workers after a public service hiring freeze was lifted - but there are some positions where the freeze will stay in place.
QLD Politics
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The Palaszczuk government has lifted its public service hiring freeze in a move that will allow the state’s departments and agencies to hire more staff and bureaucrats.
The government had introduced the freeze two years ago, vowing to maintain public service positions – excluding frontline roles – in line with July 2020 levels for a year.
The freeze was extended last year for roughly another 12 months, but it can now be revealed that the government ended the cost saving measure last Friday.
A government spokesman on Thursday described the hiring freeze as a temporary measure, suggesting it had served its purpose during the height of the pandemic.
The spokesman confirmed the freeze would stay in place, though, for senior executive positions within the public service.
Treasurer Cameron Dick had unveiled the measure in July 2020 as part of a string of initiatives aimed at saving billions of dollars amid the Covid crisis.
Between September 2020 and September 2021, the number of corporate roles in the public service fell from 20,498 to 19,872 full time equivalent positions.
The total number of full time equivalent positions across the public service, which includes frontline roles, was sitting at 238,582.57 as of September 2021 – about 4,400 more than the year before.
The government had previously aimed to ensure public service growth didn’t exceed population growth as part of its fiscal principles, but the yardstick was abandoned last year.
It is now seeking to ensure general government sector spending in the “medium term” is below the average annual growth in general government sector revenue.
The government’s Budget Update last year revealed the wages bill for the public service was expected to reach more than $31bn by 2024-25 – up from the roughly $28bn tipped to be spent this financial year.
According to the latest public sector workforce profile, about 91.7 per cent of positions in Queensland’s public service are deemed to be frontline or frontline supporting roles.
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