Australian Public Service
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| Australian Public Service overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 January 1901 |
| Headquarters | Canberra, Australia (39.1 per cent of staff) |
| Employees | 152,430 (at June 2015) |
| Key document | |
The Australian Public Service (APS), originally known as the Commonwealth Public Service, is the Australian federal civil service, currently established under the Public Service Act 1999. People employed in the APS workforce work in public administration roles within Australian Government departments and agencies. In aggregate, APS organisations provide information, services and support to almost every part of Australian life. With a staff of over 150,000 people, the Australian Public Service is one of Australia's largest employers.
Geoff Gallop describes the spectrum of activities undertaken by staff in the APS as fitting into four work functions: service delivery; law making, rule making and policy development; tax collection and managing government finance; and monitoring and enforcing laws and regulations.
The Australian Public Service formally comprises all Australian Government departments and agencies where staff members are or can be employed under the Public Service Act 1999. At June 2013, there were 167,257 APS employees, down from 168,580 APS employees in June 2012. The 2013 figure included 152,230 ongoing (or permanent) employees, and 15,027 non-ongoing (or contract) employees. Staffing in Australian Public Service agencies accounts for around half of total employment in Australian Government administration. Public servants employed by the Commonwealth Government under legislation other than the Public Service Act include Australian Defence Force personnel, government business enterprise employees, parliamentary staff, Australian Federal Police staff and public servants under other Commonwealth agency-specific legislation.
In the decade to December 2012 the APS grew in numbers; there was also notable 'classification creep', in which a higher proportion of staff are employed at higher pay-grade levels. Before the 2013 federal election, the Coalition promised to reduce the size of the public service by at least 12000 jobs, through natural attrition.Joe Hockey told an Adelaide radio station in May 2013 that the Coalition planned for the loss of 12,000 public service jobs to be just a starting point in the first two years of a Coalition government.
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