Taxpayers to foot $3m bill for lease and fit-out to create extra office space for public servants

West Australian taxpayers are funding so many bureaucratic jobs that the Cook Government will pour more than $3 million into creating more office space for them, The West Australian can reveal. The Department of Premier and Cabinet confirmed to parliament it needed more room to accommodate its staff numbers, with more than 70 new workers to be hired to help streamline major WA projects. The State Government has allocated $2.9 million in capital grants and $369,000 in recurrent funding to move the department’s Office of the Co-ordinator General to the adjacent building at 2 Kings Park Road in West Perth. Figures discussed in parliament show the annual lease will cost nearly $700,000 a year, while the fit-out of the new space was almost $635,000. It comes after The West Australian reported an ever-growing number of public servants in the Government’s ranks. Almost 28,000 full-time equivalent jobs were added in the public sector over five years, represented in a the cost of wages increasing by 50 per cent over the same time period. The senior executive service also grew beyond 480 staff in 2025, up more than 32 per cent since 2022. DPC director general Michael Carey told a budget committee hearing the expansion was necessary for the office. “We needed to secure that additional capacity in Kings Park Road because the current accommodation that we occupy at Dumas House is full,” he said. The Co-ordinator General office was added the DPC in June last year as part of a widespread restructure of the public sector in a bid to cut red tape for project deemed to be significant. Opposition shadow minister Steve Martin said money was was not necessarily going to the right places. “It again raises questions about the Government’s priorities,” he said. “The Premier can find $3.4 million for new office space, while meanwhile dozens of bridges servicing farms in the South West can’t carry trucks due to load limits being reduced because there’s no money to fix this critical infrastructure.” A State Government spokesperson said most of the funds came out of existing agreed funding. “Following the creation and the expansion of the role of co-ordinator General to streamline approvals for major job creating projects, the Department of Premier and Cabinet required additional accommodation,” they said. “Existing budget allocations for expansion were utilised in securing the lease at 2 Kings Park Road, and the Department sought an additional $369,000 through Treasury and Finance.” Roger Cook has previously defended the overall growth of public servants, saying it reflected population growth. “Western Australia is the fastest growing economy in the nation, the strongest economy in the nation, and we are the fastest growing population, so of course, we’re going to see an increase in the public sector,” the Premier said. “We make no apology that 70 per cent of the growth has been in the health and education workforce, and we make no apology for the fact that we value our teachers, our doctors, our nurses, and provide them with a decent salary.”