Since coming to office in 2014, Daniel Andrews and Labor have spent more than $24.4 billion on consultants, contractors and labour hire in major government departments, Victoria Police and Court Services Victoria. These figures do not include the hundreds of Victorian government statutory authorities and agencies beyond the listed central government agencies.
The spending on contractors, consultants and labour hire has surged 275 per cent under Labor, lifting from $1.281 billion in 2014-15 to $4.497 billion in 2021-22 and an estimated $4.8 billion in 2022-23.
On 26 June 2023, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos, claimed “We will reduce the spend or the reliance on labour hire and contractors ongoing (by) $50 million a year.”
This belated commitment to cut outrageous spending on consultants, contractors and labour hire by just one per cent ($50 million is 1.04 per cent of $4.8 billion) is a slap in the face for hardworking Victorians struggling to make ends meet.
Daniel Andrews’ extravagant spending on consultants, contractors and labour hire has occurred at a time when he has increased the size of the public service from 222,920 in 2014-15 to 290,932 in 2021-22, the most recent available figure, and Victorian public sector employment spending has increased from $19.834 billion in 2014-15 to a budgeted $36.623 billion in 2023-24.
Furthermore, in responding to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee survey, only three departments indicated any plan at all to tackle the Andrews Labor government’s surge in spending on consultants, contractors and labour hire. All other departments failed to respond to the question, demonstrating that there is no plan to rein in the consultancy and contractor expenditure blowout.
Shadow Special Minister of State, David Davis, said Victorians will be asking whether this extraordinary spending is value for money and what taxpayers receive in return.
“Despite his promise before the 2014 election to cut the number of consultants, Daniel Andrews intends to keep squandering record amounts of Victorian taxpayers’ money on highly paid contractors,” Mr Davis said.
“Labor have lost control of departmental and agency spending on these consultant and contractor fat cats, many of them Labor mates. Labor’s contractors, consultancy and labour hire gravy train is costing taxpayers dearly.”
