The proposal would reduce the Australian Public Service (APS) (excluding military and reserves) by 41,000 over 5 years by implementing a hiring freeze and not proceeding with filling existing vacant positions.

The reductions would be focussed on Canberra-based roles and would be achieved through natural attrition and redeployments to maintain staffing levels in out-of-Canberra roles, frontline services and national security agencies.