28/2009
12 May 2009
The 2009/10 Budget delivers an additional $1.1 billion in savings over four years in the operation of government, further strengthening the Rudd Government’s record of reform. This brings total savings from improving government efficiency under the Rudd Government to around $5 billion over five years.
Lindsay Tanner, Minister for Finance and Deregulation said: “It is important that in tough economic times the Government continues to reform how it operates to drive efficiencies so that we can re-prioritise spending into areas such as education and nation building.
“This process will continue over the life of the Government as we constantly strive to weed out waste and inefficiencies.”
Under the Howard Government, there was almost complete decentralisation which led to vast inefficiencies and waste in a variety of core government areas, such as IT, property and travel.
In its first budget, the Rudd Government delivered savings through the one-off 2 per cent increase in the efficiency dividend, cutting back on perks such as the printing allowance for MPs and cuts in Government advertising.
The 2009-10 Budget builds on these reforms and demonstrates the Government’s ongoing commitment to improve its operations and deliver greater value to the taxpayer.
Lindsay Tanner said: “This is not about slashing and burning, but continuing the hard work to deliver our services and assistance more efficiently and effectively.”
Reforms to government operations have produced efficiencies in a range of areas, such as streamlining administrative arrangements, reducing the level of promotional activities and removing duplicated management processes for some programs.
One example of the need for reform is the management of service contracts with family relationship centres, where the Department of Family and Community Services and the Attorney General’s Department were both responsible for payments. This created two sets of bureaucrats doing the same job and managing contracts with the same organisations. This year’s Budget removes this duplication and will save the taxpayer $8.4 million over four years.
Over fifty of the largest Commonwealth agencies have identified annual savings totalling more than $100 million to reduce their business-as-usual Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expenditure. Half of these savings will be reinvested in projects that enable further ICT efficiencies.
These are just a couple of examples of the Government improving its operations and delivering better value for money to taxpayers.
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| Media Contact: | Website: |
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| Nardia Dazkiw - 0418 144 690 | www.financeminister.gov.au |
