Allan government spends more than $2m on secret review into slashing public service jobs
The Allan government has spent more than $2m on its still-secret review into slashing thousands of public service jobs, as workers brace for an overhaul of government departments.
The Allan government has spent more than $2m on its still secret review into the slashing of thousands of public service jobs.
Victoria’s 55,000-strong public service remains braced for a slash and burn restructure of government departments almost five months after the review — by former Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Helen Silver — was handed to the government.
It was commissioned to identify inefficiencies across the public sector in an attempt to find billions of dollars in savings.
Now the Herald Sun can reveal four external consultants were paid more than $2m to support the review on top of the $203,000 paid to Ms Silver.
They included a $1.3m contract to Gilbert + Tobin, two contracts worth $436,000 to Ernst & Young and a $289,000 contract for the Nous Group.
The recipient of the largest consultancy, Gilbert + Tobin, also made a $3,866 donation to the Victorian Labor Party in November 2023.
A government spokesman on Wednesday refused to comment on any conflict of interest questions, but said consultants were employed to help Ms Silver complete her work to a high standard.
Shadow Treasurer, Jess Wilson, slammed the multimillion-dollar consultant spend.
“Labor’s use of consultants and a donor to advise on how best to cut jobs reveals the Allan Labor Government’s gross hypocrisy,” she said.
“Only Labor would spend more than $2.1 million on consultants for a review into improving the efficiency of the public service.
“The Treasurer commissioned this review at the beginning of the year and has sat on a final report since June and done nothing.
“Jaclyn Symes has had long enough. If the Treasurer is serious about reducing waste and inefficiencies within Victoria’s public sector she must release the Silver Review today.”
Ms Symes has repeatedly said she would release the report, but not until the government was in a position to simultaneously release its response to the findings.
In August the Legislative Council passed a motion forcing the government to table the report in parliament.
It refused to do so, saying it would reveal both a “deliberative processes of Cabinet” and “high-level deliberative processes of the Executive Government.”
Significant restructures have already begun in some government departments, including the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions.
Consultations about organisational restructures have also already commenced inside the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victorian Public Sector Commission and Safer Care Victoria.
The government has been working on plans to slash the service since at least February, before launching the formal review into the public service.
It has been estimated up to 12 per cent of the public service workforce, or about 6,500 workers, could be axed in the major overhaul.
The government has repeatedly insisted frontline workers, including teachers, nurses and police, were not included in the scope of the review.
