Liberal Senator Zed Seselja wants to see changes to the the cap on public service jobs numbers, and says he believes the time is right to lift the cap.
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The controversial average staffing level cap was introduced in 2015 and forced government agencies to keep their average staffing level at or below 2006-07 levels - the final year of the Howard government.
Finance and Public Service Minister Mathias Cormann said the cap was needed as part of the government's strategy to bring the budget back into surplus.
After Treasurer Josh Frydenberg promised the budget would be "back in black" in 2019-20, the ACT's single federal Liberal representative said he wanted to see change regarding staff numbers.
"It's certainly something I've been arguing for internally. I think that is the appropriate time," he said.
"[The cap] has been there for some time so I think it's certainly something I'd like to see and if we come back into government, that that is something we do see lift. There's no doubt about that."
Campaigning against the cap has been a focus of the Community and Public Sector Union, and the Labor party has committed to remove the cap if it wins government.
The cap has been criticised as a cause of the higher number of contractors and consultants now working for the government. There are claims contractors are being used at a higher cost to taxpayers for work that could be done by government employees.
Senator Seselja defended the use of contractors by the government, saying growth in private sector jobs in the capital is a positive.
"There's a question for the Labor party as to whether those contractors would still have their job should they come into government," Senator Seselja said.
"Would some of those be sacked and would others move into the public service under Labor? I'm not sure."
Senator Seselja said he had fought against moving public sector jobs from Canberra to the regions, saying it made more sense for jobs to be moved from Sydney and Melbourne.
"Obviously decentralisation is a challenge. It's one where I've had a differing view from what's been implemented by the government, but wherever I can, I've pushed to make sure those numbers are as low as possible," he said.
"I know its difficult for those individuals. In some cases people are happy to move but we know there's a mixed bag for those individuals but the overall jobs numbers have been good."
Sally Whyte
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
