Liberal backbencher Eric Abetz wants the Turnbull government to shed about 4000 jobs from the public sector.
Senator Abetz, who oversaw the public service under former prime minister Tony Abbott, says cutting the bureaucracy would show leadership.
The former employment minister used a column in his local Hobart newspaper on Thursday to criticise the public service's growth since he was in charge.
"When I was responsible for the public service in 2013, I had the media and everyone within government telling me we couldn't trim the size of the public service by the numbers which we set out in our policy – to be achieved through natural attrition and discipline," he wrote in The Mercury.
"I met with the Public Service Commission weekly and personally kept on top of the policy to ensure no breakouts and, within two years, we achieved a 14,000 reduction in the size of the public service, resulting in an annual $1.4 billion saving ...
"Regrettably, in just one year, since we've seen almost 4000 more staff added to the Commonwealth payroll."
As minister, the senator implemented a government-wide "recruitment freeze" after the Coalition won the 2013 election, which prevented agencies from hiring staff unless there were exceptional circumstances.
By the time he lifted the freeze in 2015, he had overseen the loss of about 15,000 Australian Public Service jobs.
However, the government was unable to shed staff by natural attrition alone: the number of redundancies during that period was about triple the average rate.
Senator Abetz is a powerful influence among conservative Liberal parliamentarians, though he no longer holds any roles in government.
His views regularly mirror those of ousted leader Mr Abbott.
He argued on Thursday that the cost of the extra staff employed under the Turnbull government added about $400 million a year to public spending.
"For me, that's a pretty simple proposition. More public servants in Canberra or more support for small and medium-sized businesses right around Australia creating jobs ..."
He told ABC radio on Thursday morning that Liberals should "always be on the lookout to reduce the size of government and the size of expenditure".
"One place where I believe the government could provide some leadership is in the reduction of the public service."
Most of the new public service jobs created since Malcolm Turnbull became Prime Minister in September 2015 are non-ongoing, contract roles.
22 comments
New User? Sign up