The major public service themes of 2025, and what to expect in the new year |
'Tis the season. Following a busy year for the public sector, including an election and a number of major policy developments, we envisage most readers are eagerly awaiting some time on a beach in the coming weeks.
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As is tradition for this column, we like to end the year by reflecting on the major themes in public sector industrial relations over the past 12 months and considering what the year ahead might bring.
Late last month, the Department of Finance wrote to other agencies asking them to identify 5 per cent of expenditure which could be cut.
While Treasurer Jim Chalmers subsequently indicated that the government was not planning major public service cuts, including staffing cuts, the letter foreshadowed fiscal headwinds ahead and the very real possibility of constrained APS budgets.
While the re-election of the Labor government meant threatened wider cuts under a Coalition government had not come to fruition, the prospect of APS redundancies lingers with inflation ticking up again and global market uncertainty.
Public servants enjoy relatively generous redundancy entitlements, and the High Court recently lifted the bar on what constitutes a genuine redundancy. But at the end of the day, if the government wants to cut jobs, it has wide discretion under the Public Service Act 1999 to do so.
In 2026, we are likely to see the federal government, and APS leaders, grapple with how to find budget savings in the public service, while being mindful of the election commitments made - and their own criticism of the opposition's pre-election proposals - in avoiding mass redundancies. That may well be a difficult balance to strike.
Another election flashpoint was about the ability of public servants to work from home.
Stronger flexible working entitlements, together with a new right to disconnect, were among Labor's industrial relations changes in its first term. Public servants have among the best flexible........