Tasmanian public sector increased by 30 per cent in eight years

Tasmania’s public sector is growing at an alarming rate, and the highest growth isn’t from the health or education department. Find out which departments have doubled in size.

The Tasmanian public sector is growing almost three times as fast as the population it serves – with the number of state service employees increasing by almost 30 per cent in just eight years.

The state had 27,529 public servants in June 2015, filling the equivalent of 21,736 full time positions, according to state sector annual reports.

That number has grown to 35,275 in June 2023, the equivalent of 27,647 full time jobs.

The number of public servants rose by 28 per cent in the same time that the population of Tasmania rose by 11 per cent and the state’s overall workforce grew by 18 per cent.

The departments which recorded the biggest growth were the Department of Premier and Cabinet which swelled by 55 per cent over the period, and the Department of Justice, which grew by 51 per cent — both rates of growth more than double the increase in the states public health and education workforces.

The Liberals pursued an election promise of cutting 1500 jobs from the then 25,000-strong public sector by axing more than 800 in their first year in office through voluntary redundancies, vacancy control and a Workforce Renewal Incentive Program

“This shows what a sensible, disciplined Government can achieve,” said Treasurer Peter Gutwein at the time. Public sector numbers have grown every year since.

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Michael Bailey said increases in the number of public servants came at a cost and needed to be matched by corresponding improvements in service delivery.

“The Hodgman government was all about reducing the public service, not reducing the front end of the public service but the back end. It was about efficiencies, about combining departments, about fixing IT systems and the like,” he said.

TCCI CEO Michael Bailey speaks to the media on Parliament Lawns in Hobart on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.

“What we’ve seen is a swelling of the public service after the first couple of years of that government.

“We’ve certainly seen more nurses and more police on the ground and that’s great — we’ve always said that the government should quarantine frontline services when they’re looking at the activities and the cost of the public service.

“I don’t think that the swelling of the public service behind the scenes has added anything to the people of Tasmania necessarily.

“We have deputy deputy secretaries of the major departments. Where did that come from? “Why are we paying such big wages for roles that just seem to have appeared out of nowhere?”

He said the government needed to continue to have a focus on improving efficiency, for example by rationalising back-end systems like payroll and human resources functions.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff made no apology for boosting the size of the public service.

“The Rockliff Liberal Government has significantly grown Tasmania’s frontline service over the past nine years, deploying thousands of new frontline workers in health and education.

Hobart, Wednesday 8th November 2023. Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Linda Higginson

“Whether its nurses, paramedics, police officers, teachers or teachers assistants, the Tasmanian Liberal Government is boosting essential services right across the State.

“Since 2015, we have increased the number of people working in our health services by 3700 because that is what matters to Tasmanians.

“We have also boosted our education system with an additional 1275 positions over the same period.

“The Tasmanian Liberal Government is investing in the services our community needs.”