The proposal has two components.

Component 1 – Lift wage growth and restore staffing levels

• Element 1 would lift wage growth for staff in general government sector departments and agencies, excluding military and reserves staff, over the next four years. After this time, wages would return to their projected growth. Over the next four years wage growth would increase to:
  • 4 per cent per year for all Australian Public Service (APS) level and Executive Level (EL) staff
  • 2 per cent per year for all Senior Executive Service (SES) staff. As part of this element, efficiency dividends on these wages would be removed.
• Element 2 would restore total ongoing staff numbers under the Australian Public Service Act 1999 (the Act) to 153,473 full-time equivalent employees, the same as at the end of 2011-12.
  • The increase in ongoing staff would occur in equal stages over a four-year period, with ongoing staff numbers growing by the same rate as population growth thereafter.
• Element 3 would remove the average staffing level cap which maintains staff in the general government sector, excluding military and reserves, at or below their 2006-07 level of 167,596.

Component 2 – Restrict expenditure on labour-hire companies and some contractors

• Element 1 would shift expenditure from labour-hire companies to general APS departmental funding. Labour hire would be allowed in exceptional circumstances.
• Element 2 would impose a cap of 7.5 per cent of current projected agency-by-agency expenditure for consultancy contracts and non-consultancy contracts, where labour is procured directly by a Commonwealth Government entity or through on-hire labour firms. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency and Clean Energy Finance Corporation would be exempt.

The proposal would have effect from 1 July 2019.