Public Eye : Boost in hiring as Albanese govt as consulting team becomes permament | The Canberra Times

canberratimes.com.au · Feb 15, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

Full Article

The Albanese government's battalion of in-house consultants is being made permanent, but don't expect it to be easy to grab them for your project.Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue readingSave 30%All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperCrosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll other in your area"There is very strong awareness that the demand definitely exceeds the supply," Australian Government Consulting chief consulting officer Andrew Nipe says."We've been quite careful to make sure that we weren't, while we're still quite small relative to the rest of the market, drumming up so much demand that we would just be saying no to lots of people and essentially wasting their time."But fear not, a hiring spree is underway to boost AGC's capacity.Australian Government Consulting has launched a hiring spree. Pictures by Keegan Carroll, ShutterstockAnd it couldn't come a moment sooner, with agencies under pressure - and struggling to meet targets - to reduce their spending on external consultants to meet Labor's commitment to save $6.8 billion in non-wage APS expenses in the four years from 2025-26.AGC, which operates in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, has recently advertised multiple project director, manager and consultant roles, which Mr Nipe - a former engagement manager for big three firm McKinsey & Company - said would allow it to expand its reach. "We'll be on a rolling recruitment basis over the next few years, growing at a fairly fast pace but also one that we can manage because we're starting quite small," he told an estimates hearing last week, noting the agency had just 37 staff on 1 January. The plan was to expand this to "up to 150" by 2029-30."We'll be working with our partners across the APS to make sure they're aware of what we have done and what we can do, particularly in those three areas of strategy, policy and organisational performance."PM&C deputy secretary Blair Exell said services would be provided on a "full cost-recovery basis" - meaning departments that use AGC's services will pay for its work from within their own budgets - from 2026-27.No captain's pick for APSCAs bureaucrats wait to find out who will replace former Australian Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer, Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher says the appointment will not be a captain's pick.While there's nothing to stop Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from parachuting a favoured individual into the high-profile role, Senator Gallagher said an open and competitive process was "the right thing to do.""The decision has been taken that it would be an open process ... with shortlisting, interview and appointment," she told estimates last week."Nobody has been approached. Nobody has applied. Nobody has been interviewed. I have a completely open mind about who should fill that position."She said the government hoped to "get as wide a field as we can."Dr de Brouwer's last day was February 13 and former deputy commissioner Subho Banerjee is acting as commissioner. A job ad for the role is expected to go live as soon as this week.Liberal senator James Paterson, who was and may still be the opposition finance and public service spokesperson, asked if this would be the standard approach for appointing secretaries after the so-called "jobs for mates" report.The report by Lynelle Briggs recommended independent and competitive recruitment practices be implemented for government board appointments and the government's new Australian Government Appointments Framework says ministers must be transparent and seek to "make the best possible appointments on the basis of merit, and in the interests of good government".Senator Gallagher insisted most agency heads had been appointed through an open process since Labor won government in 2022 - with some notable exceptions.PM&C Secretary Steven Kennedy moved over from Treasury in and was replaced by former Finance Secretary Jenny Wilkinson."They were not competitive processes."New and old faces Newly-anointed Opposition Leader Angus Taylor is preparing to announce his frontbench, and there's plenty of jostling under way for plum roles.The finance portfolio - traditionally paired with the public service - is expected to be retained by James Paterson, but this is not set in stone. Former education spokesperson Sarah Henderson - who was relegated to the backbench by Sussan Ley and has been on the warpath with Labor over government spending - has made no secret of her ambition to return to shadow cabinet.Fellow conservatives Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price - who was former opposition leader Peter Dutton's government efficiency spokesperson back when DOGE was a thing - are expected to have key roles.Tim Wilson, who was Ms Ley's industrial relations and employment spokesperson, is understood to be under consideration for shadow treasurer.Public Eye asked Mr Wilson, a former assistant minister in the Morrison government who led the charge to kill Labor's superannuation tax, what approach he would take to the public service if he was appointed to the role.His characteristically cryptic reply: "The only thing that is certain: I'm unconventional."The Goldstein MP, who turfed out independent Zoe Daniel to regain his blue-ribbon former seat at the 2025 election, has previously said the Coalition should not revive its short-lived policy to force public servants back to the office full time.Exiting the chatThe end of Sussan Ley's nine-month tenure as opposition leader brings to a close an era of improved communication between the Coalition and the Canberra press gallery.Ms Ley's office, known for being far more visible and accessible than her predecessor Peter Dutton's crew, has retired a WhatsApp chat used to communicate with journalists.The group had already been switch to "advanced chat privacy", a feature that blocks users from saving or exporting past messages or summarising unread texts, before Friday's leadership spill.This columnist asked the refreshed Liberal leadership team's staffers if there would be a similar group for the new LOTO, but heard crickets in response.Let's hope it doesn't herald a return to the old Dutton ways; the former leader rarely submitted to a grilling by journalists in Parliament House, and it showed during his failed campaign.More from Federal PoliticsDailyYour morning newsToday's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.