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July 29, 2025
Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson has issued a mea culpa over the Coalition's election pledge to gut the public service and signalled a more respectful relationship, while also making clear business has a role to play in government service delivery.
Speaking at The Australian Financial Review Government Services Summit in Canberra on Tuesday, Paterson will also talk up the opportunities of artificial intelligence in the public service and warn Labor against bowing to union demands for restrictions on the technology.
''Inserting unions between business and technologies like AI will only serve as a handbrake on its adoption in Australia,'' he will say, according to speech notes.
Citing differing messages coming from Industry Minister Tim Ayres, who has signalled a bigger role for trade unions in influencing how companies incorporate AI, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Assistant Minister for Productivity Andrew Leigh, who both advocate a light touch, Paterson will firmly plant the Coalition's flag.
''Without wanting to make his task any harder, I confess I am unashamedly on the side of Andrew Leigh in this debate,'' he will say, adding that he wanted the public service to lead the charge on AI adoption.
Paterson will also warn the Coalition would not accept the use of Chalmers' economic reform roundtable as a vehicle to bow to union demands.
''We will be holding them to account for their performance against measurable outcomes like regulations repealed as well as productivity increases and homes built,'' he will say. ''And we'll be judging the productivity and tax summit on the concrete ideas which emerge to facilitate this. It would be bitterly ironic if the government's much-touted roundtable becomes the mechanism by which productivity is ultimately stifled because it leads to the overregulation of technologies like AI at the behest of unions.'' The Coalition went to the last election pledging to cut 41,000 of the 70,000 federal public service jobs based in Canberra. It also initially pledged to end working from home entitlements for APS employees, a policy it scrapped after a fierce backlash from across the community. Paterson, in his first major speech in the finance portfolio, will tell summit attendees that ''the Coalition did not get the tone right''.
''It is not lost on me that promising significant cuts to the size of the APS or changing the way public servants work from home was poorly received, and not just here in Canberra,'' he will say.
While not walking back the Coalition's policy, the Victorian senator will say all policies were currently being reviewed, including on the public service, though it would always seek smaller government than Labor.
''The Liberal Party will always stand for limited government. We believe that government should be no larger than it needs to be to deliver the services Australians expect. Because everything government does must be paid for by citizens,'' he said.
''We expect the APS to be efficient and respectful of taxpayers' money.'' Paterson will, however, eschew what he labels Labor's ''public service first'' or ''public service only'' approach.
''Labor thinks there's something inherently wrong with using contractors and consultants,'' he will say.
''My view is that if a job needs to be done, it should be done by the person best placed to do so. Often, that will be a public servant. But sometimes it will be a consultant or a contractor.'' Leigh, the assistant minister tasked with boosting productivity, will also address the summit. He will talk up his passion for randomised trials in government services delivery, highlighting how such trials had already saved people thousands of hours and millions of dollars in government service delivery.
''And as the evidence base grows, we can use synthesis not just individual findings, but aggregated knowledge to guide the way forward,'' he will say.