Senator Kate Lundy today welcomed the tabling of a report by the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee recommending relief for small public sector agencies from the efficiency dividend.
The dividend introduced in 1987-88 trims the public funding component of agencies’ budgets by 1.25 per cent per annum. For the 2008-09 year only, the Government increased the efficiency dividend by an extra 2 per cent.
“I am concerned that efficiency dividend is having a disproportionate impact on small agencies and it may be leading to reductions in service – rather than genuine efficiencies”, Senator Lundy said.
“I have also been concerned that our major cultural institutions here in Canberra, like the Australian War Memorial, National Gallery of Australia and National Library, are being compromised in their capacity to properly fulfil their growth mandate and development of their collections”.
“I believe that there has been unintended consequences in the ongoing use of an efficiency dividend on small agencies here in Canberra and so welcome the Committee’s recommendations to rectify this problem”, Senator Lundy concluded.
To address these concerns the Committee has made a number of recommendations, including:
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the provision of additional safeguards in the Budget process to reinforce the independence of the Auditor-General, Parliamentary departments and the courts from the Executive; |
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the development of a new funding model for cultural agencies that takes into account their growth mandate; and |
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that the first $50 million of public sector agencies’ appropriations should be exempt from the efficiency dividend (excluding departments of state). |
Senator Kate Lundy was a member of the sectional committee of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit which conducted this inquiry.
Contact: Rachel Allen 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
