Gallagher says size of public sector workforce has not ‘grown out of pace’ with work

Katy Gallagher is continuing her media rounds, speaking to ABC RN Breakfast.

Spruiking her $2bn of savings in the budget, some of it found from reducing the number of consultants in the public sector, she argues the size of the public sector workforce is about right.

I think the public service is roughly the right size. Now, there’s always ons and offs and programs that stop and all that sort of stuff, but the public service as a proportion of population is smaller now than it was in 2006, so there is absolutely no evidence to say that it’s, you know, grown out of pace with the work that it needs to do.

Gallagher is also justifying the extra $150 the government has promised (and Coalition has promised to match) in energy bill subsidies, extending the policy for an extra six months.

She says the government is trying to balance household costs as the country transitions the energy grid.

What we’re trying to do is support households as we rebuild, essentially, the energy electricity grid to make sure it can get more renewables in, because we know that’s the cheapest form of energy. So we are trying to balance, you know, those costs households are getting with the work that needs to be done and the investments that need to be done.