APS Wages and Salaries Briefs October 2025

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This FOI release comprises an October 2025 Supplementary Budget Estimates "hot issue" brief from the Department of Finance on APS wages and salaries expense projections, along with supporting correspondence and PBO costing material. The brief states that 2025-26 Budget wages and salaries expenses are estimated at $30.5 billion, about $0.5 billion above the 2024-25 MYEFO forecast, and explains that forecasts aggregate individual entity estimates with entities expected to absorb enterprise bargaining increases within indexed budgets. It responds to media claims of a $7.4 billion "wages black hole", which Finance says was derived by applying a 4.57 per cent annual growth rate, and to a $7.04 billion PBO costing of maintaining APS staffing levels. Attachments include letters between Senator Hume and the Department, PBO costing tables, and Senator Paterson's June 2025 response to the PBO's Election Commitments Report, which disputed the baseline used for public service cuts.