Morrison government spent $20.8bn on consultants and outsourcing public service in final year, audit finds

The equivalent of 54,000 full-time staff were employed by the federal government in 2021-22, or 37% of the actual workforce

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The previous Coalition government spent $20.8bn outsourcing more than a third of public service operations, an audit has found.

The federal government released the findings of the Australian public service audit of employment on Saturday, which examined the hiring practices and associated costs of 112 public service agencies, excluding the CSIRO, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and parliamentary departments.