Media Release

73/2009
2 November 2009

MYEFO Delivers $850 Million in Additional Savings from Running Government Better

The 2009-10 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) delivers a further $850 million in savings over four years to Government operations. 

These savings have helped the Government offset all of its new spending since the 2009-10 Budget and deliver a net saving for the first time in any MYEFO.

The Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner said: “The Government has now delivered more than $7 billion in savings from its own operations.”

The Government’s ongoing commitment to drive efficiencies in its own operations is a central part of the strategy to return the Budget to surplus.

The additional $850 million savings identified in the MYEFO include:

• $383.5 million over four years from whole of Government departmental efficiencies;
• $47.6 million over four years from the Government’s new property management framework which sets an accommodation target of 16 square metres per employee across all Government agencies; and
• $131.3 million over four years from reducing the use of paper correspondence and moving towards more online and electronic lodgement by Centrelink.

Government Departments have identified a range of efficiency measures delivering savings of $383.5 million over four years.  Savings have been identified from removing duplication and overlap, reducing corporate overheads, rationalising property and scaling back resources in agencies with the ability to reduce the cost of delivering services. 

The Government’s new property management framework will yield savings of $47.6 million over four years will be achieved through more efficient and effective management of property, including the new target to limit the average workspace per worker to 16 square metres.

Centrelink will reduce the costs of its correspondence with customers and the handling of claim forms.  Through reducing the cost of transferring paper forms and storage of paper documents, savings of $131.3 million will be delivered.

“A responsible Government must continually strive to do its core business more efficiently, to deliver greater value for money to taxpayers,” Lindsay Tanner said.

“The nature of the $850 million in efficiencies identified by the Government illustrates what can be achieved when a Government takes doing its core business better seriously.”

The Government will continue to identify savings in how it does its business into the future, realising greater value for money for Australian taxpayers.

-ends-

Back to top