Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 37:19 to 43:14
Review of the establishment costs, staffing levels, and corporate support arrangements for the newly formed Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC).
Topics: Education, Government spending
Speakers: Mr. Marcus Markovic, Mr. Tony Cook, Senator Matt O'Sullivan, Unknown Speaker
>> spend? We didn't really spend anything establishing a tech as such senator because they were staff within the department.
>> It was sorry
>> staff within the department on the accountable authority. >> So effectively there's some additional funding that was made available to a tech. I think it was $50 million that the that the government gave over forward estimates for a tech.
>> Yeah.
>> Um but otherwise
>> so you've just been able to absorb it.
that basically they're they're I'm still the accountable authority. Um the staff are still staff of the department. There are additional costs for the commissioners and those salary costs are built into the $50 million additional. >> But short of that, Mr. Marovage,
>> probably the only thing I'd add is the you referred to theou and the sort of corporate support. Uh the the corporate support services are provided from within within the existing resources of the department. So my group provides those resources. uh we didn't receive additional funding for that. It's done within the exist existing staff allocation. So both the setup of the ATE we supported that and also the ongoing functions payroll it property are provided within the existing resources of the department and not separately identified.
>> How many so how many departmental employees were assigned to a tech
establishment? So there's there's a budgeted ASL of 96 ASL Senator
>> and so
>> is that just for the establishment?
>> So that's the approved staffing level for this year. That will vary over time in line with decisions of government to add resourcing and also savings that need to be delivered. So it was slightly higher when the ATH was established, but for this financial year it's 96.
>> Have you got an estimated cost of providing the corporate services to ATH?
So, so as I said there, we don't separately separate it out. We don't separate it out. The A tech is effectively running as a a group within the department and we don't attribute costs to each group. Um the cost of my area are born by the department as a whole as agreed with our executive board. We don't we don't um assign.
>> So a tech isn't required to fund out of their budget. Anything back to you? >> No, you just absorb it. The arrangement
is the um there are commissioners for the ATH and then the staff that support the commissioners are provided to the ache by the secretary with they do have their own group budget and group allocation so they can manage but it is entirely within the resourcing of the the department of education. So do we
know the cost of delivery of ATH then like as a whole like can
>> so a tech have for the staff I've mentioned the MPPPS that um the secretary's described um they have an internal budget that's allocated so I can tell you this year the the internal budget is 20 21.5 million what that won't include is is their contribution to corporate services because by their nature I've described they're funded from within the department but certainly we can ring fence the cost of the commissioners and the staff supporting the commissioners in fulfilling their function.
All right. But we don't actually know. it's not insignificant though, is it? Like like the the the that corporate services comes at a cost of time and >> other other on costs. Um but but that's not something that you've been that you are able to say
>> put a dollar figure on it. >> It would almost have to be like a billing service to some degree and we don't we don't do that. I mean and some of the work the corporate services does will be for a tech as well as for everyone.
>> What about uh when it comes to new accommodation ICT those sort of expected
costs. So again, part of theou senator outlines that we provide those services, but again a number of those services that staff were and continue to be departmental staff. We don't we don't separate them out.
>> Which administrative functions previously performed by the department are now that have ceased now that tech's been
established? So a tech um particularly now plays the role around compact agreements. So the department used to develop the compact agreements. Uh a tech now doing that. Uh I think a tech also doing uh some of the work around uh first nations projects and grants that the department used to do. Uh there's new work of course around needs spacebased funding and manage managed growth allocation of com supported places which is all part of the compact process. Um again if you want more detail around that both Harry and Ache can provide that up.
>> Okay. So the the ring fence I think was the term you used um amount was 21.5. So is that
>> that's their budget? Y
>> that's their budget. Can you confirm that that's 86 million over over the
I can't repeat that question.
>> Is it is it 86 million over the
>> No. Yeah. So, so when the ATH was established, two things happened. There were, you recall the secretary described, there were some NPs specifically for Ache. Then there was some resourcing that was moved from the department into the A tech for functions moving. I think you might be referring to the MPP number. We've then put in the additional. So the I mean over the forwards the 21 and a half for this year is a good indication of what the next three years will look like. I haven't got the exact figure with me. It's more like that number rather than the the 60 million that you've described. That will be the I think you're describing the MPP
>> Yes. Yeah. I I believe I um Okay, I'll move on. Um APS redundancies. How many public servants accepted voluntary redundancies in 2526?