Page 3009 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 14 September 1993
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The Government believes that there is scope for substantial change by providing those who wish to leave with the opportunity to do so. Managers will be asked to examine each application critically and to ensure that the ACT Government Service does not lose essential or required skills or abilities. As a result, some who seek to leave will have to be refused, in the broader interests of the ACT community.
The voluntary separation scheme will facilitate a very broad review of the activities of the ACT Government Service, and at the end we will have a leaner and more efficient public service. The scheme will operate under the provisions of the redeployment, retirement and redundancy awards. The precise nature and magnitude of savings will need to be gauged as staff numbers taking up the offer become apparent and new modes of service delivery are worked out. The cost of the redundancy packages will be repaid to the budget within one or two years through reduced and more efficient activity. The savings we will find beyond the cost of redundancies will contribute to the continuing reduction in expenditures required of the Territory's budget. The budget includes $17m to fund separation payments to those who accept voluntary separation through the general offer or as a result of restructuring. This is about twice what was actually spent on redundancies in 1992-93.
In last year's budget speech I outlined initiatives in support of our continuing drive for increased efficiency in the public sector. This budget builds upon the already significant momentum that has been achieved. A program of efficiency reviews will occur throughout 1993-94, resulting in savings in future years. The program is aimed at capturing available economies of scale, ensuring the adoption of best practice across all services, rationalising services wherever practical, extending multiskilling of staff, and redirecting resources towards higher priority activities in accordance with the needs of the ACT community. The major outcome from the program will be a shift of resources from internal public sector activities to better service to the ACT community.
The efficiency review program will involve the entire ACT Government Service. Some reviews to be considered early will lead to better services to the community. An example of this is the consolidation of the business support activities currently undertaken in several locations. Other reviews of public service activities will offer efficiency gains through co-location of functions and extended multiskilling. Examples include further consolidation of municipal-type services, improved support for land servicing activities, rationalisation of ACT government workshop facilities, integration of water monitoring functions, and streamlining of top structures in key portfolio areas. These are just a few examples of the integrated and rigorous review of public sector efficiency we will undertake through 1993-94.
The process of expenditure restraint needs to continue. A number of programs will be examined over coming years against national benchmark costs and the most effective delivery of government objectives. The focus of this activity in 1993-94 will be on public housing and health. Others will follow in future years. In the health program, we will build on the important efficiency measures already introduced and advanced in this budget. Health managers and Treasury, assisted by views from outside government, will examine the reforms under way in other States to tackle the ever increasing pressures on health costs. Such an exercise
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