Photo: DNUY
Will reckless spending ever be reined in?
BUREAUCRATIC MADNESS
Australia’s government public service burden is getting out of control.
It’s a shame that any discussions regarding this fact were dismissed as ‘Trump policies’ at the 2025 Federal Election, because it is an issue that needs addressing quickly.
Let’s take a look at just how bad things have become.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that public sector wage bills increased by 8% nationwide in 2023-24 alone – now sitting at $232 billion.
The federal government’s wage bill increased by 10% to $37.3 billion, while the number of federal public service employees increased by more than 4% to 365,400.
The states comprised 77% of public sector employment in 2023-24, numbering more than 1.9 million workers.
Data released last year by The Australian also showed that the nation’s public service headcount expanded at a far quicker pace than population growth over the 15 years to 2022-23. The public service wage bill also surged over the same period.
UBS Chief Economist, George Tharenou, told the Australian Financial Review that public sector wages had more than doubled since 2008-09, which was the last time wages increased by more than 8% per year.
The impact of public spending on the labour market is even more extreme when we consider the non-market (government-aligned) sector, which includes private companies whose funding is mainly derived from government spending.
All of this money falling into endless pits, and for what?
A supposed ‘strong job market’?
This too is a hoax perpetrated by the very same government taking all the public funds.
Since Q1 2022, just before the Albanese government came to office, overall employment across the Australian economy has grown by 4.1%.
Nearly all of this job growth, however, has come from the non-market (government-aligned) sector, where the number of jobs has expanded by an extraordinary 11.6%.
Much of this job growth is related to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
In comparison, job growth across Australia’s market sector has stagnated, growing by only 1.1% over the same period.
This is a classic Labor strategy we experienced in QLD for many years: Create for useless jobs, even if it means bribing employers with subsidies, so the statistics look good.
The surge in government-funded jobs is one of the reasons why public spending hit an all-time high of 27.3% of GDP in Q2 2024, and is projected to increase further.
It really is a joke when one takes the time to look at it.
Furthermore, does a country of only 25 million people really need three levels of government? Especially when councils were rejected in a referendum?
To put it in perspective, Australia has 537 local councils, covering as many as 1.3 million residents for Brisbane City Council, the country’s largest by population, to fewer than 1600 for Perth’s Peppermint Grove.
There are 139 councils in Western Australia, 128 in New South Wales, 79 in Victoria, 77 in Queensland, 68 in South Australia, 29 in Tasmania and 17 in the Northern Territory.
“The level of duplication and triplication of state and federal roles is ridiculous,” said Dean Hurlston, President of Council Watch.
He is correct, it is ridiculous. From the top of government at a federal level, all the way down to the middle-of-nowhere councils rorting residents.
If we were to start anywhere, eliminating the third tier of government would do a great job in cleaning up some of this bloated spending of taxpayer money.
Councils that aren’t very popular across the country, no matter who you ask.
PEOPLE FED UP
There are countless examples of crooked councils all across the country: I’m sure everyone of you who is reading this has a story about your very own local area.
It would take forever to go through the countless examples of corruption, but I thought I might highlight some recent stories that have popped up.
For example, Northern Beaches Council (NBC) last month saw around 200 furious protesters outside a meeting where it voted to apply for a 40 per cent rates increase, sparking cries of “sack them all” from the public.
NBC later faced scrutiny over its bloated $171 million staff budget — employing 1800 people, including 111 managers, directors and executives earning a combined $25 million.
Meanwhile, North Sydney Council is pushing for an 87 per cent increase over three years after cost blowouts and delays in the redevelopment of the North Sydney Olympic Pool left it facing a financial “crisis”, with some locals blasting the proposal as “appalling”.
It is an obscene waste of money and is occurring way too often across Australia.
“Councils are not designed to run $100 million, $150 million projects and then manage their costs,” Hurlston continued with his earlier comments.
“You’ve largely got the bureaucratic lunatics running the asylum — unelected career bureaucrats who are overpaid and underperforming and can’t actually do the job, and councillors keep giving them pay rises.”
One poll conducted in 2023 found half of Victorians wanted local councils to be scrapped.
The RedBridge poll, conducted for the Herald Sun, found 45 per cent of respondents wanted councils scrapped, while a similar number supported the state government taking control of services provided by councils.
A further 57 per cent were in support of council mergers to cut costs and share resources.
The Australian bureaucracy has become an inflated behemoth sucking the life out of our economy, and will continue to run rampant if not addressed soon.
All while the ‘little guy’ continues to suffer with manufactured declines of living standards.
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Yes we have a council here which has too many chiefs and not enough Indians to do the work and there’s a few bullies at the top. !! That’s in SA
The ‘Issues’; Comes from NotMyGov.Con, ‘Binging’ on the ‘Public Purse’! For a Guide to Socio/politic Expenditure, Cost/benefit Ratios, please consider The NotMyGov/Corporate Documentary in PDF form, – ‘Animal Farm’!
For observers of the Described NotMyGov & Agencies Standard ‘Operations’, The Australian Navy (When Not part of GlobAlistBullies’R’us.MidEast/Pacific), will have several ‘Hunters’ Re Tasked to Operations of THE NotMyGov.Con.aEweCrats Public ‘Swill Bin’! ‘Operation Porker’, according to RAN Over-Sight commieTee for Sighting of ‘Porkers’, Now ‘Well In’ to the Public Trough, are said to rival Hunting for ‘Missing’ MH 370!
RAN Admiral J. Cookthabooks, remarked; “It’s a Serious Operation, waylaid with Peril’s, inclement Cratic reporting, Murky Waters, & False Leads. Divers will be involved in ‘Bottom of Harbour’ Tactile searchers for Latent issues & Seals. Sorry! The Seals are Frogmen, Not Countries ‘Operational Seals’! Then of course there’s having Enough Resources. OUR Continent > MADE of Resources – Try getting some! The NotMyGov Crats have Authorised the Mission, Then told me that the alloted Mission ‘Hunters’ (BAE Systems Frigate) WON’T be Ready until 2032 > 36. By that time, I fear the ‘Quarry’ will be long gone! Maybe we could ‘Lend Lease’ some SINO/Chinese Boats! They’re already ‘Operational’, IN our waters! Sorry, that’s all for today. I’ve got to organise a Tactical Combat strategy! Coxswain, where’s that Copy of ‘Animal Farm’?”
PDF Form – Plausible Deniability Factor.
Wellness & Unity.
The answer certainly isn’t abolition of local councils – that only leads to greater centralisation and, yup, bigger government, in the end.
The answer is to reduce federal powers and fix the top-heavy constitution. By that I mean, the constitution currently gives primacy to the federal level, which is a terrible mistake. It’s the power structure of a prison colony, ruled by an iron fist, and not one of a free society where governments work for the citizenry or face angry mobs. Primacy should go to local policy as much as possible, the federal government need to be kept as far away as possible from local issues, the same way the US constitution is organised.