Major hurdle as Treasurer aims to slash $757m in consultants, contractors

The state government has promised to slash $757m in consultant and contractor costs by the end of June – but there’s one problem.

Treasurer David Janetzki

The state government has promised to slash $757m in consultant and contractor costs by the end of June, but can’t say how or when a taxpayer-funded firm critical to the commitment will be set up.

The centrepiece of Treasurer David Janetzki’s election costings was a promise to save a staggering $7bn on consultants and contractors by setting up an in-house firm known as Queensland Government Consulting.

QGC was modelled on the federal government’s Australian Government Consulting.

LNP costings show $757m will be saved from QGC and slashing contractors this financial year.

But Mr Janetzki’s office would not say when QGC would be set up, or what kind of contractors would be on the chopping block.

Shadow treasurer Shannon Fentiman said Mr Janetzki’s savings promise was a fallacy created in his own mind.

“We still haven’t seen how QGC will operate and according to David Janetzki’s own costings, this fantasy of a body is expected to find $757m in cuts by June 30,” she said.

Mr Janetzki remains on a three-week holiday but a spokeswoman said he had ­directed department to find opportunities to flatten the growth of spending on consultants and contractors.

“He has also directed departments to end Labor’s continual outsourcing of core government business to external consultants, which was eroding the capacity of the public service and the growth,” she said.

“The government will ­instead invest in rebuilding the capacity of the public service and deliver Queensland ­Government Consulting.”

Federal Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, in a speech last month, revealed the AGC had saved $3.6m in consulting costs in about a year.

The federal government spend on consulting firms also dropped by more than $624m in 2023-24.

Federal Labor has also repeatedly spruiked $4bn in savings from bringing external labour in-house, though the recent budget update shows the public service wage bill will swell to nearly $30bn this ­financial year – up $5bn from 2022 forecasts.

Originally published as Major hurdle as Treasurer aims to slash $757m in consultants, contractors