Victorian government shuffles staff between departments

Some Victorian government departments have cut more than 40 per cent of their staff, but the changes represent a shuffling of deckchairs, rather than any significant overall reduction.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan speaks during question time in the Legislative Assembly. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Six of Victoria’s 10 government departments lost staff in the 2022-23 financial year — with cuts of more than 40 per cent in three — but the changes represent a shuffling of deckchairs resulting from the creation of a new department, rather than a significant overall reduction in employees.

Departmental annual reports — which were among more than 240 documents tabled in state parliament on Thursday — show the overall full time equivalent number of departmental staff fell from 35,308 in 2021-22 to 34,894 in 2022-23 — a reduction of 414, or 1.2 per cent.

While the reduction in negligible — particularly coming out of the Covid pandemic — it is the first time numbers of departmental staff have fallen since Labor came to power in 2014 — underlining the pressure the government is under to find savings amid a net debt trajectory headed for $171.4bn by 2025-26.

Between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the overall public sector wage bill ballooned from $19bn to $33.4bn.

The Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry & Regions lost the highest proportion of staff in the year to 2022-23 cutting 1608 positions, or 45.3 per cent of its workforce.

The Department of Premier & Cabinet lost 416 staff members, or 43.7 per cent of its workforce, and the Department of Treasury & Finance lost 389 staff members or 40.1 per cent of its workforce.

However, much of the exodus from DTF is explained by the creation of the new Department of Government Services, with 1608 staff members, to which DTF’s corporate and government services division has been transferred.

Invest Victoria has similarly been transferred from DTF to the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry & Regions, and DTF’s government land sales and owned property management team has moved to the Department of Transport and Planning.

Other departments to experience smaller losses include the Department of Justice & Community Safety, which lost 557 staff members, or 5.6 per cent of its workforce, the Department of Health, which lost 85 staff members, or 2.7 per cent of its workforce, and the Department of Families, Fairness & Housing, which lost 31 staff members, or 1.0 per cent of its workforce.

Aside from the new Department of Government Services, the three departments to gain staff were the Department of Transport and Planning, which gained 617 staff members, or 15.1 per cent of its workforce, the Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action, which gained 446 staff members, or 8.6 per cent of its workforce, and the Department of Education, which gained 74 staff members, or 1.7 per cent of its workforce.