The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) have joined the growing list of agencies that have opened the door to staff departure.
These moves come as the Albanese government has pushed departments to exercise fiscal discipline, tasking public service bosses with identifying savings worth up to 5 per cent of their annual budget.
A PM&C spokesperson said voluntary redundancies (VR) had been offered to specific positions in targeted areas, though the department insisted it had no fixed target number to meet.
Chief Statistician David Gruen in his office at the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Belconnen. Picture by James Croucher
The redundancies were aimed to align resourcing and workload to current government priorities.
The ABS has confirmed that it is in consultation with employees over a VR program.
Should the consultation be successful, employees from APS 1 to EL 2 positions will be invited to apply.
An ABS spokesperson said: "The VR Program is intended to help align the ABS' ongoing staffing profile with our available funding and the expected in-demand skills for our future work program in a planned and controlled way."
The program aimed to safeguard the ABS's essential functions and service delivery, ensuring the successful rollout of the 2026 census, the spokesperson said.
Employees will be supported through the process through the Employee Assistance Program and other ways.
The spokesperson said: "The ABS is taking a best practice approach to consultation and co-operation, recognising that workforce change is most effective when employees and their representatives are informed, listened to, and able to contribute to discussions that affect them."
These developments were part of a broader trend of fiscal discipline, with the Department of Education, the Department of Social Services and the National Indigenous Australians Agency adopting similar measures .
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said it has frozen recruitment and offered voluntary redundancies to align its 5000-person workforce with current funding. These mutual-agreement exits will target roles impacted by budget cuts, shifting priorities or staffing misalignments.
The redundancies have drawn criticism, with independent ACT senator David Pocock labelling the programs "disingenuous". He said the government was quietly shrinking the public service after campaigning on a promise to rebuild it.
Greens public service spokesperson Barbara Pocock also criticised the move and said that hollowing out internal capacity of the APS will inevitably drive up costs by forcing a reliance on expensive external consultants and labour hire.
The upcoming May 2026 federal budget is expected to be difficult for public servants as the government looks to find savings to address budget pressures.
While the Community and Public Sector Union said current departments were already "overwhelmed and burnt out", Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the public service remained "appropriately sized" and that shifting resources between agencies was standard practice to meet evolving government priorities.
