Labor defends plan to save $6.4bn by cutting more consultants as experts call it a ‘lazy option’

Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers say Labor would continue cutting ‘some of the waste’ from ‘too much spending on contractors and consultants’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Labor’s plan to save $6.4bn by slashing the government’s use of consultants and external labour over four years is a “lazy option” that could “risk some reduction in service levels”, according to former senior public servants and experts.

This is despite Labor’s claim that the savings measure – which would require a re-elected Albanese government to increase the amount of core work being conducted by public servants – would not affect government services.