It was important, symbolically, for the new Government to apply some of the “”end of days of waste and sloth” to itself. It has done this in two ways. The first was to cut the pay of Ministers outside Cabinet by $10,000. The second was to reduce the number of ministerial staffers from 455 to 379.
It seems that since 1988, a form of Parkinson’s Law has applied … the number of people employed has increased by the amount of extra space available for them in the new Parliament House.
The $10,000 pay cut is quite justifiable, even though the saving is a modest $130,000 a year. Different work should attract different pay, and it was important for the Government to reduce the pay of the outer ministry rather than increase the pay of the inner ministry.
The cut in ministerial staffers is even more justifiable. The wonder is that the ministry needs 379 people. It was astounding that it had increased to 455 under the Keating Government. Governments have the public service to advise them and carry out their wishes. They should not employ a whole lot of advisers, consultants and others to duplicate those functions.
The test will be whether the Government can continue its initial frugality. It disbanded the National Media Liaison Service (the so called ANIMALS) as an unnecessary government propaganda unit. It must resist the temptation later in government when it inevitably feels its message is not getting across of creating it under another name … as Malcolm Fraser did.