Originally published by Geoff Chambers of The Australian.
09.08.2026
Anthony Albanese has recruited an army of bureaucrats dedicated to red tape and enforcement while going slow on deploying artificial intelligence despite flatlining productivity, as the Labor government dramatically increases the number of permanent public service staff.
Analysis of Australian Public Service employment data and budget papers reveals a surge in bureaucrats appointed to regulatory roles since the Prime Minister won the 2022 election, with Chris Bowen’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water leading the charge.
APS data shows the combined number of full-time and non-ongoing public servants has grown year-on-year and at a rate well above the ramp-up that occurred under Scott Morrison during the pandemic years.
After the Albanese government abolished average staffing level caps and hired more bureaucrats under the guise of bringing “core work back in-house”, the public service swelled to almost 200,000 staff at the end of last year, of which 118,300 were women, 76,553 were men and 994 identified as “Gender X”.
As the government creates new bureaucracies including the National Environmental Protection Agency, senior Labor figures remain locked in ongoing discussions with wary union chiefs about the speed and scale of AI deployment across the public service to drive greater efficiencies.
While governments around the world accelerate AI use to slash red tape and bureaucratic overlaps, the Albanese government has adopted a cautious approach, including rolling out pilot programs, trials, limited digital tools, some AI models and targeted transcription services.
Angus Taylor last month attacked the self-interest of some government agencies and pledged to axe “wasteful bureaucracy” across federal housing and climate programs during a small business forum in Brisbane.
The Opposition Leader has indicated that a Coalition government would slash Labor’s net zero and housing bureaucracies “immediately”.
“Wasteful bureaucracy has to go. I’ve been fighting it a lot in life, and I hate it with a passion,” Mr Taylor told attendees.
One Nation has committed to saving up to $90bn a year by “slashing wasteful government spending”, with Pauline Hanson pledging to abolish the Department of Climate Change and related agencies and programs.
The right-wing party says it would review the functions and costs of the education and housing departments to eliminate duplication, and introduce means-testing and adjust specialist and non-specialist pay rates to sustainable levels.In a closed-door meeting of the Albanese government’s APS Consultative Committee, which includes representatives from seven unions, 16 departments and 18 agencies, senior mandarins and union bosses recently discussed the “third and final phase” of the APS Reform Program, known as “continuous improvement”.
The reform program, initiated after the Albanese government won the 2022 election, has progressed 54 of 59 initiatives either completely or partially. The three reform project priorities adopted last year by the APS included “Empowering our people”, “Modernising our systems” and “Strengthening our culture”.
Earlier this year, The Australian revealed the APSCC endorsed a “psychosocial hazards” playbook to manage mental and social trauma in government departments.
Institute of Public Affairs research fellow Saxon Davidson said “the productive sectors of our economy are getting absolutely smashed by an avalanche of red tape and bureaucracy, which is making it almost impossible to expand, invest, and get ahead”.
“At the very time as living standards are going backwards at the fastest rate since the 1970s, the federal government has unleashed its massive red tape army onto the economy which is demolishing productivity,” Mr Davidson said.
“The Albanese government is defined by two things: Big government through more bureaucrats and big Australia through record migrant numbers, both of which are crushing mainstream Australians. Rolling back the massive expansion of the bureaucracy is critical to boosting investment and securing a thriving private sector that improves living standards at the individual level.”
Canberra remains the hotspot for Australia’s bureaucratic army, with about 70,000 public servants living in the nation’s capital, ahead of Melbourne (more than 30,000), Sydney (about 24,000), Brisbane (more than 19,000) and Adelaide (more than 13,000).
IPA analysis of APS data showed that after decreases in the public service headcount between 2013 and 2019, the bureaucracy grew 11.7 per cent under the Morrison government and 21.3 per cent under the Albanese government between 2022 and 2025.