Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, , 24:52 to 29:38
Secretary Comley explains structural changes within the department, including the consolidation of the health resourcing group and efforts to meet budget targets through downsizing.
Topics: Public service staffing, Government spending
Speakers: Mr Blair Comley, Senator The Hon Anne Ruston, Ms Rachel Balmanno
Yes.
Um I'm interested about what happened to the health resourcing division. Um it appears as if it's gone into system strategy section, um, with the exception of Medicare Digital benefits and digital health. Is that correct?
So there were we we had um the health uh resourcing group, which was so it's a group, not a division. That was previously the Deputy Secretary had been in charge of that for a long time was Penny Shakespeare. There were five divisions within that group. Um there was um TAD, the Technical Assessment Division, there was the uh Medicare Benefits and Digital Division, there was the um immunisation and the emergency response division. That's not quite the right title, but it's essentially what it is. There was workforce division uh and there was benefits integrity. And so uh we benefits integrity um went across to health products regulation group, which is the group that um the largest part is the therapeutic goods administration, but it also had has some compliance function, so the benefits integrity division, which is essentially compliance systems functions looking after things like MBS, PBS, pharmacy, etc. went there. The tech uh TAD, um I was better at the anacronym than the thing, but the technical assessment division, which does things like service uh PBAC and MSAC, etc. went into the system strategy group, as did Workforce and the Medicare and Digital, uh, and that uh immunisation and um emergency response went into the group that is um well I think it's been renamed, it was primary care, and someone could prompt me what it's actually called now, but it's the group that already has uh things like the urgent care clinics.
Prevention, primary care and medicare.
Thank you. I don't have the thing in front of me. So Ms.
Develin.
Ms. Develin, exactly. So we we essentially the reason we did this is we're obviously in a downsizing environment in the department. I have been very consistent with staff to say that when someone, for example, leaves the organisation, we should take that opportunity, think about spans of control and consolidation, etc. And so I I felt, and I communicated this to the department that it would be I don't think it would be appropriate for me to tell everyone else to do that and not to take the opportunity of consolidating functions when it when we had an opportunity with the deputy leaving.
Sure. Um so in this downsizing environment and the changes that you've proposed with this consolidation, what were the savings that were realised by making these changes to the department's ongoing operation?
Yeah. The savings are relatively modest for that move itself. That would essentially be a deputy's position and the office that supports the deputies, so that is a relatively small amount of money. It might be in you know, I could get your precise figure, but would be in the order of a million dollars to to do that. Um but it's more I think um sending a signal across the organisation that this is the direction of travel that we need to do and that the executive should take the same approach.
Okay. Um so in the savings that you are seeking to um achieve through your downsizing environment, I think you referred it to, um, are those savings being returned to government or are they to be reallocated within your existing portfolio budget?
Well, um the the government has already effectively baked in our reduction in resources through the amount of money allocated through the budget. So these are taking actions that will allow us to meet those targets.
Okay, so that was as a result of a direction ministerial direction in relation to budget targets?
Well, it's the it's the budget.
So Rachel Balmanno, Chief Operating Officer for the Department. Uh good morning. Uh so we have been progressively reducing the size of the department for several years now. So you can see it in our annual report and other public documents. The overall operating budget uh reduces, and we have been ensuring that we stay within that, which has required us to make structural changes progressively for about two years.
So these are the contributors to yes, those changes.
Making sure we operate within budget.
Yeah, okay. Chair. Um I I've finished on that. Happy for me to hand over for the rest of my time. Yep. Chris.