Of course, those are the hiring areas where we have seen a lack of stability in the public service. I'd like to counter that. This is because of years of under-resourcing and cuts that happened way before this time.
With the passport situation, it's my understanding that public servants were crying out to the government to put proper resourcing behind passports, knowing that, when we implemented the 10-year rule, there would be a crunch for people with new passports making its way forward.
This is what I call catch-up after years of under-sourcing, and people getting by and doing more with less. When there is a cry for services, some of it can be outsourced, but public servants need to do passport applications and the vital work of checking and making sure that applications are done in a correct, fair and transparent process.