James Paterson says he will take a "non-ideological" approach to the public service and avoid using "blunt tools" such as the infamous work-from-home ban, as he sets out to repair the Coalition's relationship with the federal bureaucracy.
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The newly appointed public service spokesman confirmed the opposition had dropped its policy of cutting 41,000 public service jobs from Canberra and promised to change the opposition's tone towards bureaucrats.
"We haven't determined any policy about the size of the Australian Public Service, and we will do that in the normal way through our policy processes heading towards the next election," Senator Paterson told The Canberra Times in an interview.
"We'll have more to say about that in detail in due course, but we're also not persisting with the policy that we took to the last election on that issue."
The Victorian Senator has taken on the public service, finance and government services portfolios after Jane Hume was dumped from Sussan Ley's shadow ministry, in a shock move thought to be linked to her role in selling the doomed public service cuts and work-from-home ban.
"We take collective responsibility for all of our policies," Senator Paterson said.
"Ultimately, everyone has to bear responsibility for what we put forward to the election, not any one individual."
While senior Coalition figures have been vocal about the damage wrought by the work-from-home proposal, far less has been said about a policy to drastically shrink the public service.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Peter Dutton doubled-down on an earlier promise to only target public service jobs in Canberra, in a pledge decried by Labor as "Canberra bashing".
"You can certainly see in the results on election day, not just in the ACT, but around the ACT, that it looked at a combination of our public service cuts and the working from home policy were pretty clearly rejected by the community," Senator Paterson said.
"I think the result has made that very clear, that we didn't get the tone right, and that we need a different approach, and we'll be pursuing a different approach under Sussan Ley and my leadership in this area, in this term."
'If a public servant is the best person to do the job, they will do the job'
Now, he wants to turn over a new leaf and build a "productive and constructive and respectful relationship" with public servants.
Elected in 2016, as Australia's youngest ever Liberal senator at 28 years old, Senator Paterson has never served as a minister, but points to his work with public servants as chair of Parliament's powerful national security committee, and deputy chair of the COVID committee.
His early advocacy to rebuild the controversial Home Affairs Department has paid off, with Labor backflipping on an initial decision to transfer security agencies to the purview of the Attorney-General.
He will also keep a close watch on Labor's other Machinery of Government changes and its approach to outsourcing, including a pledge to find an additional $6.4 billion in savings over the four years until July 2029.
The new public service spokesman said he would shun an "ideological" approach taken by Labor to reducing outsourcing.
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"They have a public service-first, or sometimes even public service-only, approach, which is ideologically motivated," Senator Paterson said.
"They think there's something inherently wrong about using contractors and consultants, whereas our approach will be, if a contractor [or] consultant is the best person to do the job, they should do the job.
"But if a public servant is the best person to do the job, they will do the job."
While Ms Ley has abandoned the Trump-style role of government efficiency spokesperson, she has foreshadowed that Senator Paterson will keep a focus on costs, albeit in a measured way.
"[It] is a really important priority for the Coalition to make sure that taxpayers get value for money," Senator Paterson said.
"But we won't be using any kind of blunt tools - like forcing people back to the office five days a week - as a means of delivering that, because I don't think that that would have been the right approach."
The Victorian senator said keeping the public service portfolio alongside finance signalled a recognition of the bureaucracy and its importance.
"The public service is the key enabler for governments to deliver on their agendas, it should never be an afterthought or a secondary consideration."
Miriam Webber
Miriam Webber is a federal politics and public sector reporter, with an interest in integrity, transparency and accountability in government. She has been a member of the federal political bureau since 2023, and previously worked as the city reporter. Reach her at miriam.webber@canberratimes.com.au or miriamlwebber@proton.me
