The Albanese government came to office in 2022 having pledged to dramatically reduce the bureaucracy's dependence on external contractors and labour hire. It did so by creating an additional (nett) 28,000 to 30,000 new permanent positions.
While on paper the APS has grown from an estimated 144,000 in 2021-22 to 215,000 in 2025-26, much of that reflected a change in how people were employed rather than the creation of new roles with tens of thousands of people transitioning from the Coalition's previously invisible "shadow workforce".
