tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/australian-public-service-6824/articlesAustralian Public Service – The Conversation2024-02-22T08:01:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2241582024-02-22T08:01:05Z2024-02-22T08:01:05ZNational Anti-Corruption Commission to warn of ‘corruption vulnerabilities’ ahead of federal election<p>The National Anti-Corruption Commission will provide guidance on “corruption vulnerabilities” ahead of next year’s federal election, NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton said on Thursday. </p>
<p>“The commission will produce guidance concerning corruption risks and vulnerabilities associated with issues such as grants, political donations and fundraising, foreign interference, government advertising and appointments,” Brereton said. </p>
<p>He told a conference on “Rebuilding trust and integrity in the Australian Public Service”, run by The Mandarin, that there was a vast difference in the integrity landscape now compared with when the first anti-corruption commission was set up – the ICAC in New South Wales – 35 years ago. </p>
<p>“Since then, there has been a sea change in the tolerance of the public, the press and the public service for corrupt conduct.” </p>
<p>Brereton said corruption was “about the misuse of public power, position, privilege or property” usually for private purposes. “It results in the diversion of public resources, and the undermining of trust in our public institutions. Although it is not the only form of corrupt conduct within the definition, breach of public trust lies at its core.”</p>
<p>Brereton stressed that “mere mistakes, incorrect decisions, and even negligent maladministration, are not in themselves corrupt conduct”. Generally, there must be an element of dishonesty and/or personal benefit. </p>
<p>Up to February 18 the commission had received 2,534 referrals of suspected corrupt conduct, overwhelmingly voluntary referrals from the public. Nearly 80% were excluded because they didn’t involve a Commonwealth official or didn’t raise a corruption issue. </p>
<p>The commission had opened 18 preliminary investigations, of which five had been finished, in each case with a finding of no corruption. </p>
<p>It had opened 13 corruption investigations, four of them jointly with other agencies, and had referred five corruption issues to other agencies for investigation.</p>
<p>In 220 cases which passed triage, the commission had decided to take no more action. </p>
<p>“Typically, this is because there are insufficient prospects of finding corrupt conduct, or the matter is already being adequately investigated by another agency, or a corruption investigation would not add value in the public interest.” </p>
<p>The commission also progressed seven investigations that were started by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. </p>
<p>Brereton said the statistics showed “that the public perception of corruption greatly exceeds the actuality”. </p>
<p>But this wasn’t a reason to be complacent “first, because the perception bespeaks a lack of trust and confidence in our institutions, and secondly, because there is still an actuality that underlies it”. </p>
<p>He said in the public service there were two main areas where there was the perception and actuality of corrupt conduct – procurement, and recruitment and promotion. </p>
<p>“Concerns in both those areas relate to the preferring of family, friends and associates, and misuse of official information to gain an advantage.” </p>
<p>While many complaints about selection and promotion reflected grievances by disappointed applicants, not all could be dismissed on these grounds. In procurement, mere compliance with the rules didn’t mean the conduct was ethical. “In particular, contracts for a value just under the threshold for a limited tender process tend to be a red flag.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>National Anti-Corruption headed by Paul Brereton will provide guidance on “corruption vulnerabilities” ahead of next year’s federal election in a conference speech hosted by the MandarinMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136542023-09-26T03:49:06Z2023-09-26T03:49:06ZThe many reviews of the public service miss one vital problem - the language used to communicate ideas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550164/original/file-20230926-29-srjzf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s public service is no stranger to reform. In the past nine years, it has undergone <a href="https://www.apsreview.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/Ahead%20of%20the%20Game%20-%20Blueprint%20for%20the%20Reform%20of%20Australian%20Government.pdf">three</a> <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/publication/learning-from-failure">significant</a> <a href="https://www.apsreview.gov.au/index.htm">reviews</a> of its policy advising capabilities, all of which broadly agreed that its policy advice tends towards reticence and needs to be strengthened. </p>
<p>While these reviews triggered reform processes to improve how policy advice is built, a glaring gap remains largely unexplored: the language of policy advice itself. How public servant policy advisers articulate arguments, communicate ideas and influence decision-makers has profound implications for how their policy recommendations land and whether the public interest is served. It’s an area urgently in need of reform.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-robodebt-heres-how-australia-can-have-a-truly-frank-and-fearless-public-service-again-209488">After robodebt, here's how Australia can have a truly 'frank and fearless' public service again</a>
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<h2>Policy advice needs the right language</h2>
<p>Policy advice is not just about data and analyses – it’s about conveying arguments, views and a compelling narrative that resonates with decision-makers and serves the broader public. </p>
<p>This means language wields immense power. It shapes perceptions, frames issues and influences decisions. Yet reviews of the Australian Public Service (APS) have not explicitly focused on the language used in policy advice.</p>
<p>Language can stymie policy. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/08/labor-says-treasury-document-shows-negative-gearing-claims-outright-lies">A convoluted, risk-averse document</a> that avoids uncomfortable knowledge in case it is controversial or requested under Freedom of Information laws almost always obscures the proposal’s merits. This in turn can make it difficult for people to gauge if it is in their interest.</p>
<p>Policy advice serves a dual audience: government decision-makers and the public. The language used to communicate policy directions must understand the needs of these audiences. And advisers must remember that policies are not only shaped by those in power, but are made in the public interest. </p>
<p>Moreover, the public’s ability to access and scrutinise policy advice has expanded dramatically. If policy language remains inaccessible and opaque, public trust erodes – not just in governments but within departments. </p>
<p>A language that shows context, addresses dissent, and provides clear directions fosters understanding and trust. This enables everyday citizens to make informed judgments about whether their interest has been served. Addressing the language used in policy advice is not a surface concern – it is a crucial factor in strengthening democratic participation and accountability.</p>
<p>Rectifying the challenge posed by policy language is not a straightforward undertaking. However, several potential avenues could lead the public service towards resolution. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pezzullo-story-points-to-serious-systemic-problems-in-the-australian-public-service-214253">Pezzullo story points to serious systemic problems in the Australian Public Service</a>
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<h2>How it can be fixed</h2>
<p>As a first step, the importance of language to policy success must be explicitly acknowledged. This might spark a cultural transformation, where language becomes a cornerstone of policy advising rather than the afterthought it so often is. The public service also needs to explore why its language is as weak and ambiguous as it is.</p>
<p>From here, professional development focused on finding and distilling complex ideas into accessible language is also key. However, simply providing resources for plain language writing or increasing the amount of communication misses the mark. As <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2585323/">has been observed</a>, the answer to better policy-advising is not to produce more rigorous, more relevant, less ambiguous, more timely or more appealingly presented evidence. Rather, it is for policymakers to develop a better awareness of how to communicate their ideas. </p>
<p>Finally, interdisciplinary and lateral collaboration could revolutionise policy advising as a fully robust form of knowledge communication. As former Australian Public Service Commissioner Peter Woolcott <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/news-and-events/media-centre/speeches/aps-commissioner-peter-woolcott-ao-valedictory-address#:%7E:text=It%20is%20the%20APS%20that,of%20the%20views%20of%20stakeholders.">has noted</a>, policymakers need to “get better at engaging in policy discussions with civil society to ensure a full understanding”. </p>
<p>Following this thinking, collaborations between science communicators, social scientists, citizen experts, organisational linguists and policy advisers could yield innovative approaches to framing and conveying policy ideas. </p>
<p>The public service’s effectiveness hinges on its willingness to stare into the abyss of policy language. The language used in policy advice is not an inconsequential detail, but a pivotal determinant of success. </p>
<p>If it does not address this problem, the public service risks becoming an unwitting participant in its own decline. The path forward demands not just a cursory nod to the issue but a profound shift in policy advisers’ perception and prioritisation of policy language, as well as the culture in which it exists. </p>
<p>Only then can the public service empower its policy advisers to communicate with impact, cultivate public trust and navigate the complex landscape of policy-making in the 21st century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christiane Gerblinger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian Public Service stands at a crossroads where policy effectiveness hinges on its willingness to stare into the abyss of policy language.Christiane Gerblinger, Visiting Fellow, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142532023-09-25T08:39:24Z2023-09-25T08:39:24ZPezzullo story points to serious systemic problems in the Australian Public Service<p>The revelations in the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/pezzullo-stands-aside-cabinet-to-be-briefed-on-private-messages-20230925-p5e7dc.html">Nine newspapers</a> that Mike Pezzullo, secretary of the powerful Home Affairs department, shared with Liberal Party powerbroker Scott Briggs are certainly extraordinary. But, just like the <a href="https://robodebt.royalcommission.gov.au/">revelations about Robodebt</a> from the royal commission, they must not be treated as an isolated case but as evidence of serious systemic problems in the Australian Public Service (APS).</p>
<p>So what is expected from public servants in terms of their relationship with government? The answer is in the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00057">Public Service Act</a>, which states secretaries – those at the very top of each department – must uphold and promote the APS Values and Employment Principles. One of those values is impartiality:</p>
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<p>The APS is apolitical and provides the government with advice that is frank, honest, timely and based on the best available evidence.</p>
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<p>The conduct of the public service is overseen by the public service commissioner, who issues legal directions about how bureaucrats must conduct themselves consistent with each APS Value.</p>
<p>Regarding being impartial, this means, among other things:</p>
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<li><p>serving the government of the day with high quality professional support, irrespective of which political party is in power and of personal political beliefs</p></li>
<li><p>ensuring the individual’s actions do not provide grounds for a reasonable person to conclude the individual could not serve the government of the day impartially</p></li>
<li><p>ensuring management and staffing decisions are made on a basis that is independent of the political party system, free from political bias and not influenced by the individual’s political beliefs</p></li>
<li><p>implementing government policies in a way that is free from bias, and in accordance with the law.</p></li>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/working-aps/integrity/integrity-resources/code-of-conduct">APS Code of Conduct</a> requires public servants</p>
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<p>at all times to behave in a way that upholds the APS Values and Employment Principles, and the integrity and good reputation of the employee’s Agency and the APS.</p>
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<p>In the event the head of an agency (including a departmental secretary) is alleged to have breached the code, the commissioner is responsible for inquiring into the allegation and reporting to the prime minister. Penalties for breaches include dismissal.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-a-soft-reprimand-from-one-hard-man-to-another-118619">View from The Hill: A soft reprimand from one hard man to another</a>
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<p>From the details in the article, it is understandable Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has referred the matter to the commissioner. By implication, the article alleges breaches of the code for not upholding the APS value of impartiality: Pezzullo’s alleged actions not only suggest partisanship, but also lack of objectivity and allowing his personal political beliefs to affect his professional support for the government. It’s extremely difficult to see how the messages Pezzullo allegedly sent to Briggs could be seen to be consistent with upholding the values, let alone promoting them as he is required to do.</p>
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<p>Pezzullo may claim the material revealed in the article was private, as demonstrated by its encryption. He may also highlight the references the article said he included about his own neutrality. But it would be hard to suggest he was not trying to influence decisions by the government, or that the alleged messages were not highly political. </p>
<p>Moreover, when a person is as senior as Pezzullo, trying to distinguish between public and private behaviour is problematic. I recall telling Max Moore-Wilton, former secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet under John Howard, that his presence at Howard’s election night function in 2001 was inconsistent with his obligation to uphold and promote non-partisanship, despite his claims this was a private matter in his private time. I noted that, had Kim Beazley won that election, Moore-Wilton would have needed to be able to demonstrate his capacity to serve the new prime minister professionally and impartially.</p>
<p>Trust is the critical ingredient of a secretary’s relationship with their minister. And a secretary does not know who their minister will be tomorrow or next year, whether within the current government or under a new government. </p>
<p>So trust has to be achieved across the parliament and with the Australian public. It’s hard to see that Pezzullo’s messages are in any way consistent with such trust. A host of Liberal ministers, had they known of the messages, would have had no trust in Pezzullo, let alone a Labor minister.</p>
<p>At a different time, Pezzullo was on Beazley’s staff. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it does raise the question of whether he has behaved, to use the late professor of public administration Peter Aucoin’s term, in a “promiscuously partisan” way. That is, crossing the boundary between the public service and politics.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-robodebt-heres-how-australia-can-have-a-truly-frank-and-fearless-public-service-again-209488">After robodebt, here's how Australia can have a truly 'frank and fearless' public service again</a>
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<p>A central issue in the Robodebt case was whether senior public servants were being overly responsive to their ministers and ignoring their obligations to uphold and promote the values (and the law). Public service failures in the sports rorts and Morrison multiple-ministries cases have raised a similar question. Aucoin drew attention to this problem in Australia and other Anglophone countries over a decade ago. Clearly, it has become a lot worse in Australia since then.</p>
<p>My own view is that the contract system for secretaries, which means they are constantly under an implicit threat of losing their jobs, is contributing to excessive willingness to please. There is evidence of some sensible actions by the current APS commissioner and the secretary of prime minister and cabinet to place more emphasis on merit in the appointment process.</p>
<p>But more needs to be done, including in the legislation, if we are to rebuild the trust that is essential between the public service and all sides of politics, the parliament and the Australian public.</p>
<p>Another possible measure, but one not directly relevant in the Pezzullo case, is to prohibit any senior public servant from being a member of any political party. That might put some meat on the requirement to promote, as well as uphold, the value of impartiality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Podger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More needs to be done, including in the legislation, if we are to rebuild the trust that is essential between the public service and all sides of politics, the parliament and the Australian public.Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2094882023-07-13T20:05:46Z2023-07-13T20:05:46ZAfter robodebt, here’s how Australia can have a truly ‘frank and fearless’ public service again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537196/original/file-20230713-27-c3rwgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The robodebt royal commission revelations have triggered revulsion in all fair-minded Australians.</p>
<p>They’ve also stimulated a critically important national conversation about what could be going on in Australian government, including in the Australian Public Service (APS), that such a thing was even possible.</p>
<p>For 40 years now, without most Australians realising it, the APS has operated under a different philosophy from its foundational one at Federation. In a few key respects, it was subjected to significant system change. </p>
<p>The question facing the Albanese government now is how to change the system to make “frank and fearless advice” the norm in the APS again, in a way that doesn’t rely on the weak options of exhortation and individual courage.</p>
<p>A quick history tour of public service system design helps identify a robust path forward.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/robodebt-royal-commissioner-makes-multiple-referrals-for-prosecution-condemning-scheme-as-crude-and-cruel-209318">Robodebt royal commissioner makes multiple referrals for prosecution, condemning scheme as 'crude and cruel'</a>
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<p>The British civil service in the middle of the 19th century was massively underperforming, not least because it was riddled with patronage appointments. </p>
<p>The imperial Chinese civil service, which recruited on merit via examination and with career-long employment, was seen to produce much better quality advice.</p>
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<p>In 1854, the <a href="https://www.civilservant.org.uk/library/1854_Northcote_Trevelyan_Report.pdf">Northcote-Trevelyan Report</a> successfully recommended the adoption of the same kind of approach in Britain, and what we know as the Westminster-style public service was born. </p>
<p>The British state has changed in several respects since. But as British historian Peter Hennessy has said, that ethic has survived as a “kind of gold standard”.</p>
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<p>And my friends in the bureaucracy branch of the international management consultancy trade tell me that this is what ministers and officials in recently de-tyrannized nations seek most avidly -– the secret of an uncorrupt, rational, politically clean Civil Service, something they believe the British specially, if not uniquely, possess.</p>
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<p>The British system was emulated here at Federation, and served Australia well.</p>
<p>However, the election of the Thatcher government in Britain in 1979, coinciding with the rise of “econocrats” in the senior echelons of government departments, led to a “private sector good, public sector bad” ethos coming to dominate globally.</p>
<p>Its public service manifestation is known as “managerialism”, or “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/governance/The-new-public-management">new public management</a>”. It eliminated key design features of the Westminster-style public service and made it operate more and more like a private company. Contract employment for APS secretaries and many senior executive service (SES) officials was a – arguably <em>the</em> – key change. Like their private sector counterparts, these contract officials can now be fired essentially at will.</p>
<p>In 1983, the APS had departmental secretaries on far lower salaries relative to today’s. But they could nevertheless afford to give frank and fearless advice because they had secure positions and good superannuation.</p>
<p>Back then, bureaucrats knew not everything important could be measured. The service was free of private sector-style performance pay and key performance indicators (KPIs), neither of which have been shown to produce better outcomes than the previous system which lacked them.</p>
<p>The APS in 1983 was staffed by career public servants proud of working in, and only in, the public interest. It was not staffed with high-end precariat officials on contract wondering if and when they might need to ask the big seven consulting, accounting and advisory firms for a job should they fall out of favour with the minister. The “revolving door” between the APS and consulting firms didn’t exist then because it simply wasn’t needed.</p>
<p>The mooted benefits of managerialism were more efficient (cheaper) outputs from a “responsive” (compliant) and streamlined (smaller) APS. Have those mooted gains been made? And, if so, have they offset the accumulating and recently prominent costs of compromised advice?</p>
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<p>The public servant who actually ended robodebt when Minister Stuart Robert would not, former Department of Human Services Secretary Renée Leon, <a href="https://unsw.press/books/morrison-government/">describes</a> “a strange, twilight version of ‘smaller government’” under the nine years of Coalition government from 2013 to 2022.</p>
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<p>The scale of government spending, and hence government’s role and outputs, increased rather than decreased […] The Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments had spent as much, or more, on programs and activities, but increasingly administered their outputs via private-sector means rather than the APS. </p>
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<p>Within weeks of ending robodebt, Leon was sacked by the Morrison government. She was just the latest in a long list of examples of Coalition governments harnessing Hawke and Keating government changes from the 1980s and 1990s, originally made in the interest of “responsiveness” but used by the Coalition to ensure compliance.</p>
<p>After winning the 2019 election, Morrison gathered departmental secretaries together and warned them against “providing a detached or dispassionate summary of the risks that can be logged in the ‘told you so’ file”. In other words, don’t write anything down that might embarrass ministers later.</p>
<p>The “no fingerprints” policy this represents enabled ministers to skirt their full share of public opprobrium for robodebt and other integrity breaches like the Morrison “multiple ministries” scandal. And they’re just the ones we know about. As Leon has commented:</p>
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<p>The increasingly overt agenda of recent conservative governments to reduce the role and undermine the capacity of the public service has morphed from a preference for small government and light regulation to a concerted effort to limit evidence and expertise as the basis for government action, with significant implications for effective governance and public trust.</p>
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<p>Public servants understood, and understand still, that their job is to advise on and implement, but not decide, policy. That’s the job of ministers in the government of the day.</p>
<p>That’s why many public servants have been and remain mystified by the drive for a more “responsive” public service via managerialist changes made since the 1980s. </p>
<p>Ministers are the major beneficiaries of frank and fearless advice, which they’re free to accept or reject. So why was managerialist change necessary at all?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-tort-of-misfeasance-and-how-might-it-apply-in-the-case-of-robodebt-209507">Explainer: what is the 'tort of misfeasance' and how might it apply in the case of robodebt?</a>
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<p>Today’s APS leaders have risen in, and in some cases been active architects, promoters and beneficiaries of, the managerialist shift that innocently paved the way for public sector erosion. </p>
<p>Fixing it will require exceptional vision at the summit of the APS. It will need to fully account for what’s been lost in the managerialist era, and acknowledge that the emulation of corporate models and processes is not the best or only way to achieve public service goals, as history shows.</p>
<p>Cultures shape systems; thereafter, systems shape cultures. </p>
<p>If there is an obvious place to start, it’s re-establishing tenure for departmental secretaries, and converting SES officials on contracts to continuing employment. </p>
<p>This is one simple, clear, powerful, doable system change. It can replace a negative feedback loop promoting compliance with a positive feedback loop making frank and fearless advice the powerful default response again. In the public interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Wallace has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Senior public servants no longer have secure positions, and that has deeply undermined their ability to give ‘fearless’ advice.Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2093772023-07-09T10:46:33Z2023-07-09T10:46:33ZView from The Hill: The ‘sealed’ chapter of the Robodebt report should be released<p>The secrecy surrounding the recommendations for prosecution and other action against those who drove or facilitated the Robodebt scandal threatens to dilute the impact of the strong findings of the royal commission. </p>
<p>Commissioner Catherine Holmes has said the report’s secret chapter “recommends the referral of individuals for civil action or criminal prosecution”. But she said this “sealed” section should not be tabled “so as not to prejudice the conduct of any future civil action or criminal prosecution”.</p>
<p>Holmes has submitted relevant parts of the sealed chapter “to heads of various Commonwealth agencies, the Australian Public Service Commissioner, the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner, the President of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory and the Australian Federal Police”.</p>
<p>So far the government is adhering to Holmes’ position about not releasing names, although the Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten said on Friday he had “conflicting emotions” when he read Holmes’ recommendation on this, and Anthony Albanese said he did, too. </p>
<p>While at first blush Holmes’s argument for suppressing the names sounds fair and the right thing to do, it is in fact flawed. </p>
<p>By not identifying people publicly, this does a disservice at several levels. The case for secrecy can be made, but it is trumped by that for disclosure. </p>
<p>The general public, and especially the victims of Robodebt, deserve to know who has been referred. The scheme did immense damage to a huge number of people. The commission has been scathing about many individuals. There is a strong case for revealing what actions it believes should be taken against which people. </p>
<p>The secrecy is also unfair to some involved in the hearings who have not been referred. People may assume, wrongly, that they have been. </p>
<p>On the other hand, have some individuals not been referred when it might be expected they would have been?</p>
<p>Individuals who have been referred can identify themselves, but it can’t be assumed they will. (A couple of former ministers on Friday were quick to say they had not received referral notifications.) </p>
<p>The situation becomes even more opaque when no number has been given of the referrals.</p>
<p>One would expect a hierarchy among the referrals – being recommended for criminal charges is not the same as being referred for lesser action. </p>
<p>There is little doubt names will leak out over coming days, which is the worst way for them to emerge. </p>
<p>Publication of names would hardly be a new thing. The royal commission into trade unions, set up by the previous government, listed referrals, the grounds for them, and the agencies to which they were sent.</p>
<p>Following Friday’s report, the bureaucracy has started a process for dealing with fallout in its bailiwick. But while there’s been a shake up in the public service and its top personnel under Labor, the public won’t necessarily have confidence the process will ensure action is being robustly pursued. </p>
<p>The Public Service Commission announced that “a centralised inquiry mechanism has been established to inquire into alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct by [Australian Public Service] employees, former APS employees and Agency Heads arising from the Royal Commission”.</p>
<p>In its statement the Public Service Commission poses the question, “What information will be available about individual referrals and inquiries?” Its answer amounts to saying, damn all.</p>
<p>“The sealed chapter of the report refers to individuals and is subject to a Direction Not to Publish issued by the Royal Commissioner.</p>
<p>"In order to maintain the integrity and procedural fairness of any further inquiries, and consistent with the Direction Not to Publish, information about individual cases will not be released,” the statement says.</p>
<p>As to whether individuals named in the sealed section continue to be employed in the public service, this will be “a matter for their current employer,” who can act “before a formal investigation has started or concluded”.</p>
<p>In deciding this, the statement says, their boss needs to consider the “seriousness of the allegations, as well as the particular circumstances of the individual’s employment including their current roles and responsibilities”. </p>
<p>Just in case anyone has any further questions, the Public Service Commission and individual departments and agencies “will not be commenting on the employment arrangements of individuals because, to do so, may inadvertently disclose content contained in the sealed chapter or risk prejudicing ongoing inquiries”.</p>
<p>This is less than satisfactory. As is a situation where some senior public servants know more than ministers about who has been named. </p>
<p>How can we monitor what happens to which individuals if we don’t know who all those individuals are? How will we know the time frame – when the follow-through is finished? Are we talking about weeks, months?</p>
<p>There are strong grounds for the government to make public the sealed section, in the name of transparency. Not to do so will only bring problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bill Shorten said on Friday he had “conflicting emotions” when he read Holmes’ recommendation on this, and Anthony Albanese said he did, too.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2070202023-06-07T20:08:13Z2023-06-07T20:08:13ZHow reliance on consultancy firms like PwC undermines the capacity of governments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530275/original/file-20230606-23-dzt4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-the-pwc-scandal-should-be-ripe-for-the-national-anti-corruption-commissions-attention-206867">PwC scandal</a>, there is renewed interest in the work of outside agencies within Australian government. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, an audit showed almost <a href="https://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-05/Audit%20of%20Employment%20-%20Report_1.pdf">A$21 billion</a> was spent on external labour hire in the Australian Public Service in 2021-22. </p>
<p>Contained within this figure is a significant jump in the amount spent on consultants. While some outsourcing will be to fill genuine gaps, there is evidence that overreliance on consultancies can undermine the longer-term capability of the public service.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-the-pwc-scandal-should-be-ripe-for-the-national-anti-corruption-commissions-attention-206867">Grattan on Friday: the PwC scandal should be ripe for the National Anti-Corruption Commission's attention</a>
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<h2>Consulting is a global business</h2>
<p>Australia is not the only country with an interest in consultants. It is a truly worldwide phenomenon that spans government and private business. In 2023, it is estimated the global management consultants market is worth over <a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/global/market-size/global-management-consultants/">$US860 billion</a>. </p>
<p>However, Australia’s consulting industry (made up of public and private sector spending) is the <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/P1079-Talk-isnt-cheap-Order-for-the-production-of-consultants-reports-Web.pdf">fourth largest</a> in the world, and significantly larger than other comparable countries. </p>
<p>External organisations undertake a broad range of functions, including giving advice on strategy, accounting services and IT services. Sometimes entire government functions (for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/23/nauru-offshore-detention-immigration-processing-to-cost-australia-485m-22-asylum-seekers">operating offshore detention facilities</a>) are outsourced.</p>
<p>The use of outside labour has a long and interlinked history. Their worldwide rise started following a number of reforms from the late 1970s that aimed to introduce more market-based structures into public services. This <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/16/the-big-con-by-mariana-mazzucato-and-rosie-collington-review-how-consultancy-firms-cash-in">transformed the corporate structures of governments</a>. </p>
<p>Governments were encouraged to outsource a range of functions (such as delivering disability or employment services) on the basis that they could contract this to firms that could do this more effectively and efficiently. Governments could stick to making policy and ensuring this delivered the outcomes consumers wanted. </p>
<p>But the separation of policy design and management from service delivery was not as simple as it might have first appeared. In separating these functions, many governments have experienced a “<a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/september/1630418400/john-quiggin/dismembering-government#mtr200">hollowing out</a>”, losing the knowledge, skills and institutional memory that is key to managing services. </p>
<p>And so this had a snowballing effect, with governments increasingly turning to consultants to carry out the jobs they once did. </p>
<h2>Consultants in the Australian Public Service</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, the total volume of consultancy work undertaken for the APS by the so-called “Big Four” consultancy firms has increased <a href="https://publicintegrity.org.au/research_papers/booming-business-for-big-four-comes-at-a-high-cost/">400%</a> from $282 million in 2012-13 to over $1.4 billion in 2021-22. </p>
<p>Most often the reason given for contracting consultancies is a “<a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/work/information/australian-government-procurement-contract-reporting-2022-update">need for specialised or professional skills</a>”. This may be because, the rationale goes, the skills don’t exist within the APS or because an external perspective is needed that can’t be gained from internal employees. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/consultants-like-pwc-are-loyal-to-profit-not-the-public-governments-should-cut-back-on-using-them-205920">Consultants like PwC are loyal to profit, not the public. Governments should cut back on using them</a>
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<p>But some believe a culture of <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;orderBy=customrank;page=0;query=Dataset%3AcomSen,estimate%20donnelly;rec=3;resCount=Default">preferencing advice</a> from consultants over the public service has taken hold. At times, this can lead to governments receiving the advice they want rather than a more rounded view of an issue. </p>
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<p>The use of consultants within government doesn’t always mean these skills are not available in the APS. One important issue to consider is the level of APS staffing. After the 2015-16 budget, the previous government constrained the size of the APS to around the 2006-2007 average staffing level of just over 167,500. It is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-10/contractors-and-the-public-service-gig-economy/12647956">argued</a> this cap on staffing numbers left the APS unable to undertake all the work it needed to do, making it reliant on consultants to fill gaps. </p>
<p>The Australia Institute argues the $1.1 billion spent on consultancy services in 2018-19 could have employed an extra <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/P1079-Talk-isnt-cheap-Order-for-the-production-of-consultants-reports-Web.pdf">12,346</a> public servants. It notes that, in reality, consultants are often paid at a much higher rate than public servants. </p>
<h2>Implications for public service capability</h2>
<p>A number of inquiries and reviews have expressed concern that reliance on consultants has long-term impacts for the public sector. </p>
<p>In 2019, the <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/independent-review-aps.pdf">Independent Review of the APS</a> found labour contractors and consultants were increasingly being used to do work that had been core public service capability, such as program management. </p>
<p>These findings were confirmed in a 2021 Senate <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024628/toc_pdf/APSIncunderminingpublicsectorcapabilityandperformance.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">Finance and Public Administration Reference Committee report</a> on the capability of the Australian Public Service. It found that when government spends money on policy advice from private consulting firms, this undermines public service capability. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pwc-scandal-shows-consultants-like-church-officials-are-best-kept-out-of-state-affairs-205560">PwC scandal shows consultants, like church officials, are best kept out of state affairs</a>
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<p>The Community and Public Sector Union has argued that consultants are often engaged to do <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/339061/sub001-aged-care-employment-attachment2.pdf">more strategic and complex work</a> that APS employees should be doing. All too often, public servants are asked to provide administrative support to consultants, and therefore miss out on opportunities to develop their skills and expertise. </p>
<p>These issues have also been noted in other countries. Most notably in the UK, Lord Agnew of Oulton <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/29/whitehall-infantilised-by-reliance-on-consultants-minister-claims">noted</a> the UK civil service was “too reliant on consultants. Aside from providing poor value for money, this infantilises the civil service by depriving our brightest people of opportunities to work on some of the most challenging, fulfilling and crunchy issues.”</p>
<p>When consultants undertake entire areas of work, the requisite skills and knowledge are not transferred to the APS. In effect, this sets up a negative feedback loop, where APS employees lose skills and institutional knowledge because of the reliance on consultants, meaning the next project or piece of work needs the input of consultants. </p>
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<h2>Time for change</h2>
<p>Although concerns about public sector capability have been around for more than a decade, there is some sign action might finally be taken. A <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Finance_and_Public_Administration/Consultingservices">Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee inquiry</a> into the management and assurance of integrity by consulting services is due to report by the end of September. It will likely make a number of recommendations about the use of consultants. </p>
<p>The recent federal budget announced the government was committed to rebuilding the capability of the APS, increasing average staff numbers by around <a href="https://budget.gov.au/content/bp4/download/bp4_2023-24.pdf">10,800</a>. This figure includes a number of individuals on external labour hire arrangements who will effectively be brought in-house. </p>
<p>But restricting the use of consultants will be just one step in rebuilding the APS and its capability. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-16/australia-reliance-consulting-firms-high-cost-problem-government/102091810">Significant investment</a> and a change of culture are both needed if the use of consultants is to decrease substantially.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Dickinson receives funding from ARC, NHMRC and CYDA. </span></em></p>The growing use of external consultants to do government work has led to a “hollowing out” of the public service.Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1585282021-04-12T01:09:58Z2021-04-12T01:09:58ZAustralia is failing to recognise an urgent need: recruiting more Chinese-Australians into public service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394400/original/file-20210412-21-16nzv5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=745%2C73%2C3496%2C3201&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>A powerful and assertive China poses significant policy challenges for Australia. Many of our most pressing policy issues have crucially important China angles, from freedom of speech on university campuses to scientific research collaboration and supply chain management. </p>
<p>Yet, there is a dire lack of policy expertise on China in the public service and few signs this is improving.</p>
<p>The Australian Public Service (APS) has long recognised the importance of Asia expertise generally. However, an <a href="https://pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/government/independent-review-australian-public-service">independent review</a> in 2019 noted that while Asia proficiency was a core focus of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/asian-century-white-paper-experts-respond-10370">2012 Asian Century White Paper</a>, </p>
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<p>coordinated and sustained action to deepen Asia-relevant capabilities was not taken then, and it remains a skills gap across the public service.</p>
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<p>For example, Asian language skills remain poor in Australia, and the number of people fluent in Mandarin is dismally low, especially among Australians without a Chinese background. </p>
<p>One estimate has put the number of fluent Mandarin speakers of non-Chinese background <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/fact-checka-are-there-only-130-people-who-can-speak-mandarin/11235484">at just 130</a> across the entire country. And with a <a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/sites/default/files/20032%20ACRI%20Jane%20Orton%20-%20Chinese%20Language%20Capacity_web_0.pdf">decreasing number</a> of year 12 students without Chinese background studying Mandarin, the prospects of this situation improving are low.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-too-few-home-grown-experts-on-the-chinese-communist-party-thats-a-problem-121174">Australia has too few home-grown experts on the Chinese Communist Party. That's a problem</a>
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<h2>Too few Chinese-Australians in the public service</h2>
<p>Recruiting, retaining and promoting more Chinese-Australians with China capability should be of the utmost importance for the public service. </p>
<p>Yet, Australians of Chinese heritage are significantly under-represented in the public service, at just 2.6% of the total workforce based on the latest available internal figures. </p>
<p>This is despite Mandarin and Cantonese being two of the most common foreign languages spoken at home in Australia at 2.5% and 1.2% of the total population, respectively, according to the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0%7E2016%7EMain%20Features%7ECultural%20Diversity%20Article%7E60">last census</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-australia-china-relationship-is-unravelling-faster-than-we-could-have-imagined-145836">Why the Australia-China relationship is unravelling faster than we could have imagined</a>
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<p>This is not simply a problem of workplace composition lagging demographic changes. The numbers of new Chinese-Australians being recruited into the public service are also significantly lower than they should be.</p>
<p>This demographic group has an enormous amount to contribute to Australia’s China literacy and policy-making capabilities. Yet, in the public service, Chinese-Australians are more likely to be found in accounting and IT roles, rather than policy-making roles. </p>
<p>The under-representation problem is especially acute in senior management, with only two Chinese-Australian “first assistant secretaries” out of a total of 577 across the entire Australian Public Service. This is just 0.3% of people in this key senior executive role. </p>
<h2>Why this is happening</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/chinese-australians-australian-public-service#_edn17">report published</a> today for the Lowy Institute, I have identified some of the major causes of under-representation of Chinese-Australians in the public service. Workplace culture, management systems and recruitment processes are among the principal challenges holding back this important source of talent.</p>
<p>When Chinese-Australians with deep knowledge of China are recruited to the public service, management preconceptions may hinder their placement in China-related roles. There is a tendency to perceive their ethnic and cultural background as an impediment or “conflict of interest” to work on issues related to China, even after they have successfully completed the exhaustive security clearance process.</p>
<p>The result is that government departments may spend substantial resources training public servants to speak a Chinese language and improve their expertise on Chinese society and culture, while those with existing Chinese language skills, knowledge and experience are side-lined. </p>
<p>Another pervasive problem in some bureaucratic systems is that staff are constrained by their formal role definition or official rank in how they can contribute their knowledge and expertise.</p>
<p>The Australian Public Service recruitment and promotion systems also tend to value “generic” public policy skills rather than “specialised” knowledge, such as country or regional expertise. This further contributes to a mismatch of skills and expertise with roles and positions.</p>
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<h2>What can be done to fix the situation</h2>
<p>While the public service has taken steps towards addressing diversity and inclusion issues (and there has been notable work done by some government agencies), there is a sense some of these efforts are merely superficial. </p>
<p>Agencies may hold feel-good <a href="https://www.harmony.gov.au/events/event?eventId=3825">Harmony Day</a> morning teas, while ignoring systemic workplace culture issues. Other initiatives are treated as “extra-curricular”, to be done outside working hours rather than as a core component of an employee’s work.</p>
<p>To fix the situation, the Australian Public Service needs to target culturally and linguistically diverse communities for recruitment, as well as support their retention and promotion. This is similar to what it is currently doing to progress women through the ranks.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-great-chance-to-engage-in-trade-diplomacy-with-china-and-it-must-take-it-154737">Australia has a great chance to engage in trade diplomacy with China, and it must take it</a>
</strong>
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<p>The public service should also collect and publish better data on the representation of different culturally and linguistically diverse groups. However, the public service is doing the reverse: it removed ethnic diversity questions from last year’s <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7198177/diversity-questions-snubbed-in-aps-census/">APS employee census</a>.</p>
<p>The irony is that despite the urgent demand within the Australian Public Service for Chinese language and cultural skills, the existing skills of many public servants are being overlooked or not used at all. </p>
<p>Australia has a large, diverse and growing population of Chinese-Australians, but the APS is failing to take advantage of this. And those who are in the service are often undervalued or underutilised. </p>
<p>A better harnessing of the skills and knowledge of this community would have substantial benefits for Australian policy-making in one of its most important bilateral relationships.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158528/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yun Jiang received funding from the Lowy Institute for the report on which the article is based. </span></em></p>Workplace culture, management systems and recruitment processes are holding Chinese-Australians back from making meaningful contributions to China policy.Yun Jiang, Managing Editor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1413722020-07-09T04:44:03Z2020-07-09T04:44:03Z‘Tokenised, silenced’: new research reveals Indigenous public servants’ experiences of racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346477/original/file-20200708-23-bcplu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=56%2C50%2C4139%2C2711&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Morrison government has just announced <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/new-plan-boosts-indigenous-australians-in-senior-public-sector-roles-20200702-p558gb.html">a plan</a> to boost the number of Indigenous Australians in the top ranks of the Australian Public Service. </p>
<p>The plan may be well-intentioned, but it is also one in a <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/indigenous-employment-strategy-2012-16">long line</a> of attempts to boost Indigenous employment in the public service. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-432-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-no-one-has-ever-been-convicted-racist-silence-and-complicity-are-to-blame-139873">Despite 432 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991, no one has ever been convicted. Racist silence and complicity are to blame</a>
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<p>My new research shows how racism pervades the public service - one of the most important and powerful structures in the country. </p>
<p>The public service can develop all the strategies it likes. But these will mean nothing unless the public service invests in robust, anti-racist and Indigenous-led strategies. </p>
<h2>Racism: every day in every way</h2>
<p>In recent weeks, we have seen unprecedented conversations about racism, sparked by the brutal murder of George Floyd. In Australia, this focussed attention on the 430-plus Indigenous <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-432-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-no-one-has-ever-been-convicted-racist-silence-and-complicity-are-to-blame-139873">deaths in custody</a> since the <a href="http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/research/ageofinquiry/biogs/E000178b.htm">1991 royal commission</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Australians have taken to the streets to protest against Indigenous deaths in custody.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Wainwright/ AAP</span></span>
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<p>As these episodes show, we tend to only observe racism in its most overt and violent forms. But to understand how <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-racism-is-so-hard-to-define-and-even-harder-to-understand-106236">race works</a>, we need to look at how it pervades all aspects of life.</p>
<p>If Australians really want to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism in this country, it is time to listen to the voices of Indigenous Australians and learn. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-twitter-accounts-you-should-be-following-if-you-want-to-listen-to-indigenous-australians-and-learn-140353">Ten Twitter accounts you should be following if you want to listen to Indigenous Australians and learn</a>
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<p>Australians also need to understand that racism is not a single event – it is embedded in all Australian systems, institutions and workplaces. Indigenous Australians experience racism every day in every way. </p>
<h2>Racism in the public service</h2>
<p>My book, <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/unmasking-racial-contract-indigenous-voices-racism-australian-public-service/paperback-pdf-epub-kindle">Unmasking the racial contract</a>, draws on the experiences of 21 Indigenous public servants, obtained through yarning sessions, or conversations. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-racism-is-so-hard-to-define-and-even-harder-to-understand-106236">Why racism is so hard to define and even harder to understand</a>
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<p>I was an Indigenous employee of the public service for 14 years. The ongoing failure of the public service to accurately understand and acknowledge the experiences of its Indigenous employees led me to conduct my research.</p>
<p>I started by asking Indigenous employees to speak about their experiences with recruitment, career progression and everyday work. This revealed the ways that individual and systemic racism operate in the public service. </p>
<h2>The importance of the public service</h2>
<p>The Australian Public Service - which provides advice to the federal government of the day and implements its policies - is a microcosm of Australia. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://apsc.govcms.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_state_of_the_service_report_2018-19.pdf">June 2019</a>, there were 147,237 Australian Public Service employees, with 3.5% identifying as Indigenous (compared to approx 3.3% of the Australian population). </p>
<p>Indeed, it is one of the largest employers of Indigenous peoples in the country, and holds itself up as a bastion of support for equality and career progression through various Indigenous <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/indigenous-workforce-strategy">employment strategies</a>, Reconciliation “<a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/innovate-reconciliation-action-plan-august-2019-august-2021">action plans</a>” and Indigenous <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-cultural-capability-framework">cultural awareness</a> initiatives. </p>
<p>The 2019 <a href="https://apsc.govcms.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_state_of_the_service_report_2018-19.pdf">APS State of the Service Report</a> indicated many Indigenous employees had positive attitudes about inclusion in the public service (for example, more than 80% agreed with the statement “my supervisor actively supports people from diverse backgrounds”). But this does not capture the actual experiences of Indigenous employees. </p>
<h2>The myth of meritocracy</h2>
<p>The public service is officially a meritocracy. It says it operates on the “<a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/aps-merit-principle">merit principle</a>,” underpinned by legislation. </p>
<p>But the idea that all employment, promotion and commendation decisions are made on an entirely neutral basis is a myth. A disproportionately high number of Indigenous employees languish on the lower rungs of the employment ladder.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous Australians make up a tiny fraction of senior public servants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/ AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to <a href="https://apsc.govcms.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_state_of_the_service_report_2018-19.pdf">2019 data</a>, Indigenous employment is concentrated at the lower APS 3 and 4 levels, while with non-Indigenous is concentrated at the higher, APS 5 and 6 levels.</p>
<p>Tellingly, Indigenous employees make up 1.2% of the public service’s Senior Executive Service (SES) workforce. This is just 32 Indigenous SES members out of a total of 2,780. As one interviewee observed</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you were to look at all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SES [staff] in Australia, you could probably name them … the percentage is so small. It’s certainly not that we’re not bright or capable or efficient or any of those things. So, what is the reason?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, they are leaving the public service at a faster rate than non-Indigenous employees. <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_catsies_evaluation_report_final.pdf">In 2018</a>, 8.4% of Indigenous employees left the public service, compared to 6.5% of non-Indigenous employees. </p>
<h2>‘Just here for the stats’</h2>
<p>During my research, Indigenous employees reported that they felt tokenised and not seen as professionals with genuine skills or expertise to offer. They said they were valued only for their cultural knowledge: “It feels like I am just here for the stats”. </p>
<p>They also reported they were pigeonholed into Indigenous policy jobs and denied the chance to work in mainstream portfolios.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a little bit of that ‘black face’ — we better put you in a black program as opposed to thinking maybe mainstream might be a good opportunity to contribute.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indigenous interviewees also raised concerns about the use of “identified positions” for Indigenous employees at all levels. Contrary to what might be expected, these were not restricted to Indigenous people</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’ll find most people who win those positions have been white people. A lot of the people that sit on these interview panels are white people.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Marginalised, ignored</h2>
<p>Indigenous employees said they were were marginalised and silenced. If they spoke up, raising concerns about recruitment decisions or practices, they were ignored </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A few of us senior people went to visit one of the deputy secretaries [senior leaders] who was responsible for HR management to talk about our concerns… we literally had the ‘face in the hand’ to stop talking because she didn’t wanna hear it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Employees said there was an expectation that they leave their Indigeneity at the door when they came to work</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know I been asked to go to meetings with supervisors and warned before we get there that I’m only there as onlooker and told — just sit there — don’t say a thing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also reported being labelled as a “problem” employee if they raised issues about how they were treated</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s almost like you have to make a choice whether you speak up about racism and get the finger pointed at you, like, ‘Oh. Don’t be so sensitive’.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The public service needs to listen more and learn</h2>
<p>Indigenous employees have paid, and continue to pay, a high price for racism. One interviewee described how it ended their career in the public service</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had several acting branch manager stints, which was great. But in the end, I left for a job that paid less because I just didn’t feel I could influence or support any changes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shiny new plans and strategies are all well and good. But a more fundamental shift is needed: Indigenous employees must become a genuine and valued part of the public service. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has recently announced a new plan to boost the numbers of senior public servants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A deeper understanding about what racism is and how race works is a good place to start. Non-Indigenous colleagues and managers must commit to anti-racist workplaces. This requires managers to act on reports of racism - the continued failure to do so makes them complicit in perpetuating white supremacy.</p>
<p>Structural change is also necessary. This requires non-Indigenous leaders relinquishing their automatic right to power and control - adopting principles of solidarity to work with us, not against us. Crucially, it means Indigenous employees must have a seat at the table and must be heard. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/constitutional-recognition-for-indigenous-australians-must-involve-structural-change-not-mere-symbolism-131751">Constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians must involve structural change, not mere symbolism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indigenous resistance has been a 230-year journey of solidarity and survival. Indigenous Australian leadership has mobilised numerous protests and campaigns against systemic racism in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, in a call to action for all Australians. </p>
<p>But the fight against racism must also extend to one of our our most important institutions - the public service - that shapes how government decisions are made and then carried out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Debbie Bargallie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian Public Service is one of the country’s most powerful institutions. Yet Indigenous people make up just 1.2% of its senior ranks.Debbie Bargallie, Postdoctoral Senior Research Fellow, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1381182020-05-12T02:02:28Z2020-05-12T02:02:28ZThe balancing act: how much free speech should our public servants have?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333609/original/file-20200508-49538-urfneu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C185%2C4933%2C3101&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scott Barbour/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The past few months have shown us the importance of public servants making public statements as well as limits involved with this.</p>
<p>The limits have been most clearly demonstrated by Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Annaliese van Diemen, who <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-30/deputy-chief-health-officer-likens-coronavirus-to-captain-cook/12202502">recently created controversy</a> when she posted a tweet comparing Captain Cook’s voyage to Australia with the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1255289781686276096"}"></div></p>
<p>Public servants are <a href="https://vpsc.vic.gov.au/html-resources/guidance-for-the-use-of-social-media-in-the-victorian-public-sector/">required to be apolitical</a>. </p>
<p>Last week, Victoria’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-05/victorian-deputy-chief-health-officer-captain-cook-tweet-cleared/12215532">public service watchdog found</a> van Diemen did not breach the Health Department’s code of conduct. But she was nonetheless <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/deputy-chief-health-officer-cleared-over-post-deletes-twitter-from-phone-20200505-p54pwb.html">counselled</a> about her social media use. </p>
<h2>Free-ish speech</h2>
<p>Public servants are also citizens and have the right to participate in the democratic process, including the right to free speech. But these rights are constrained by their obligations. </p>
<p>The High Court last August clarified those constraints in the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-07/high-court-free-speech-public-service--banerji-decision/11377990">Banerji case</a>. In a unanimous decision, it found the 2013 dismissal of then immigration department employee Michaela Banerji for her social media activities was lawful. </p>
<p>The decision emphasised the constitutional role of the public service and its values: in particular, being professional, apolitical and impartial. </p>
<p>In his judgment, Justice James Edelman helpfully <a href="http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/downloadPdf/2019/HCA/23">identified six factors</a> that should be considered in deciding whether public comments are acceptable. These are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>the seniority of the public servant</p></li>
<li><p>whether the comment concerns matters for which the person has direct duties, and how the comment might impact those duties</p></li>
<li><p>the location of the communication on a scale from vitriolic criticism to objective and informative policy discussion</p></li>
<li><p>whether the person intended, or could reasonably have foreseen, that the communication would be widely disseminated</p></li>
<li><p>whether the person intended, or could reasonably have expected, that the communication would be associated with the public service</p></li>
<li><p>what the person expected, or could reasonably have expected, an ordinary member of the public to conclude about the effect on the public servant’s duties and responsibilities.</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-high-court-ruling-on-public-servants-tweets-have-a-powerful-chill-on-free-speech-121556">Will the High Court ruling on public servant’s tweets have a 'powerful chill' on free speech?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Similar reasoning would surely apply in Victoria. While van Diemen’s most recent tweet is not directly partisan, it does confirm the anti-Coalition views demonstrated in her earlier tweets that were still visible last week <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronavirus-victoria-health-officer-annaliese-van-diemen-has-form-on-tweets/news-story/4fe6bee84f0ae8c92e962ad36be37835">on her Twitter account</a>. </p>
<p>The counselling of van Diemen was clearly warranted; I am surprised she was not found to have breached her department’s code of conduct. </p>
<p>She would be in trouble on almost all the Edelman factors.</p>
<h2>The value of public servants speaking to the public</h2>
<p>More positively, we have seen over the past six months that public servants can play a critical role through public statements and a public profile. </p>
<p>The most impressive examples are Shane Fitzsimmons, who was until recently NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner, and Georgeina Whelan, the ACT Emergency Services Agency commissioner. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333615/original/file-20200508-49573-1jqi8g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shane Fitzsimmons recently stepped down as commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service after more than 12 years in the top job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both contributed greatly to public safety and confidence as they kept people informed and exercised the authority they were given during the bushfires. Their political leaders stood beside them but allowed them to take the lead.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, and his deputies have played broadly similar roles during the COVID-19 crisis, as have the state and territory chief health officers. </p>
<p>However, theirs has been a more ambiguous role than that of the fire commissioners. They do not have direct authority to make decisions - they advise their ministers who are the decision makers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333618/original/file-20200508-49546-1njo05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy has had a prominent public role during the COVID-19 crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The political leaders nonetheless need to be seen to be relying heavily on the professional expertise of these public servants to ensure public confidence and widespread compliance with the behaviours needed to limit the spread of COVID-19. </p>
<p>The difficulty for public servants is to stick strictly to their professional advice and not to feel it necessary to directly support the decisions their political leaders have taken.</p>
<p>Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy is taking a lower profile. But his public statements, including to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/28/treasury-officials-defend-delay-in-rollout-of-130bn-jobkeeper-scheme">parliamentary committee monitoring the COVID-19 response</a>, have been important in providing expert explanation of the context of government decisions and the likely impact on employment and the economy, reinforcing community trust.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-restore-trust-in-government-we-need-to-reinvent-how-the-public-service-works-121634">To restore trust in government, we need to reinvent how the public service works</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Morrison government’s recent reliance on public service advice, and its determination to be seen to do so, contrasts sharply with its attitude up until Christmas. </p>
<p>Directly after the election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison instructed departmental secretaries to <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/109051-re-elected-prime-ministers-public-message-to-department-heads/">concentrate on the implementation of government policies</a>. Hopefully, his new-found appreciation of expert public service advice will continue.</p>
<h2>Old questions with new complexity</h2>
<p>Whether, when and how officials speak publicly are not new questions, but the dilemmas involved have become more acute. </p>
<p>On the one hand, public servants’ anonymity has long gone, since the advent of parliamentary committees, the Freedom of Information Act and other administrative laws that provided public access to information and rights to review public service (and ministerial) decisions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333622/original/file-20200508-49579-jevlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Senior public servants, such as Treasury head Steven Kennedy, regularly appear before Senate committees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the other hand, the professionalisation of politics has led to closer control of government communications. This often demands clearance of speeches and publications by ministers or their staff and constraining open engagement between public servants and external stakeholders and the public.</p>
<p>In 2009, the Australian Public Service Commission’s <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/circular-20096-protocols-online-media-participation-social-media">guide on social media comments</a> explicitly encouraged involvement by public servants in robust, professional conversations online in a practical and flexible way.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/making-public-comment-social-media-guide-employees">current guide</a> only lists the risks to be managed.
Under Kennedy’s leadership, Treasury officers have taken the positive approach, for example in publicly opening up Treasury’s latest modelling of retirement incomes to academic scrutiny. However, it is clear some other departments are too cautious.</p>
<p>The challenge for public servants is to get the balance right. For their own professional development and the quality of public service advice and administration, they need to publicly engage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-morrison-wont-have-a-bar-of-public-service-intrusions-on-governments-power-128880">View from The Hill: Morrison won't have a bar of public service intrusions on government's power</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is also public interest in public servants providing background analysis that explains the context and impact of government policy. </p>
<p>But public confidence is essential so that officials can serve governments of any persuasion. A lack of it can only lead to staffing based on political sympathies rather than merit, destroying the institution that is the professional public service.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Podger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Public servants are supposed to be apolitical. But there is a difficult line to walk between their freedom of speech as citizens and impartiality as government officials.Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1283062019-12-05T02:52:51Z2019-12-05T02:52:51ZMorrison cuts a swathe through the public service, with five departmental heads gone<p>Scott Morrison has announced a dramatic overhaul of the federal public service, cutting the number of departments and creating several new mega ones, while removing five secretaries.</p>
<p>The departments will be reduced from 18 to 14.</p>
<p>But Morrison said there were no changes to his ministry or to portfolio arrangements.</p>
<p>“I’m very pleased, very pleased, with the performance of all of my ministers and the work they’ve been doing,” he told a news conference.</p>
<p>He also said the public service shake up was not a savings measure. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This has been done as a structural issue to better align and bring together functions within the public service so they can all do their jobs more effectively and help more Australians</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The new departments are</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Education, skills and employment, created from the present department of education and department of employment, skills, small and family business</p></li>
<li><p>Agriculture, water and the environment, which consolidates the department of agriculture, and the environment functions from the current department of the environment and energy</p></li>
<li><p>Industry, science, energy and resources, which will bring together the present department of industry, innovation and science, the energy functions of the current department of the environment and energy, and the small business functions from the current department of employment, skills, small and family Business.</p></li>
<li><p>The department of infrastructure, transport, regional development and communications, consolidating the current department of infrastructure, transport, cities and regional development, and the department of communications and the arts.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Services Australia announced by Morrison after the election, will be established as a new executive agency within the social services department.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scott-morrison-tells-public-servants-keep-in-mind-the-bacon-and-eggs-principle-122021">Scott Morrison tells public servants: keep in mind the 'bacon and eggs' principle</a>
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<p>Ten departments are unchanged, Morrison said.</p>
<p>The secretaries who have been dispensed with are: Kerri Hartland (employment); Renée Leon (human services); Mike Mrdak (communications); Daryl Quinlivan (agriculture) and Heather Smith (industry).</p>
<p>It is not known which, if any, were voluntary departures.</p>
<p>Morrison immediately after the election installed his own man, Phil Gaetjens as head of the prime minister’s department, and flagged more changes later.</p>
<p>Morrison is bringing back to the public service Andrew Metcalfe who will head the new agriculture department. Metcalfe was sacked by prime minister Tony Abbott from agriculture.</p>
<p>Morrison said Metcalfe would “bring considerable public policy leadership experience” to the job.</p>
<p>David Fredericks, presently secretary of the environment and energy department becomes secretary of the new industry department.</p>
<p>Morrison said the shrinking of the number of departments was “to ensure the services that Australians rely on are delivered more efficiently and effectively”.</p>
<p>“Australians should be able to access simple and reliable services, designed around their needs. Having fewer departments will allow us to bust bureaucratic congestion, improve decision-making and ultimately deliver better services for the Australian people,” Morrison said.</p>
<p>“The new structure will drive greater collaboration on important policy challenges. For example, better integrating the government’s education and skills agenda and ensuring Australians living in regional areas can access the infrastructure and services they need.”</p>
<p>Andrew Podger, a former public service commissioner who headed several departments, said he was “particularly pleased” to see the department of human services disappear as a department and become an executive agency (Services Australia) in the social services portfolio, although it would have been better if Morrison had gone further and made it a statutory authority.</p>
<p>“But at least we will no longer have the administration of social security payments in a separate portfolio from social security policy,” he said.</p>
<p>“The other mergers make some sense, recreating the ‘mega-dapartment’ structures from the 1987 Hawke years, particularly the combination of education, employment and training, ” Podger said.</p>
<p>“But the main potential benefit of fewer and larger departments is to make cabinet work better, with a smaller cabinet, and with portfolio ministers given more latitude to make decisions (and allocate resources) drawing on their junior ministers.</p>
<p>"If this does not happen, and more departments have two cabinet ministers, that will cause more problems, not fewer ones, particularly for the secretaries giving advice.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-morrison-can-learn-a-lot-from-the-public-servants-but-will-he-listen-121646">Grattan on Friday: Morrison can learn a lot from the public servants, but will he listen?</a>
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<p>Morrison, asked who would be the senior minister in the new environment and agriculture department, defended having multiple ministers.</p>
<p>“The portfolio minister for the environment Sussan Ley is responsible for the environment and Bridget McKenzie, who is the minister for agriculture, will be responsible for agriculture policy, and David Littleproud is responsible for water policy, Morrison said.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is not uncommon for departments to have multiple ministers. They have multiple ministers now. And so the officials that work in these departments respond to the minister that is responsible for those portfolio issues. So who’s the senior minister on environment? Well, it’s the minister for the environment. Who’s the senior minister on agriculture? It’s the minister for agriculture. It should be very plain.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Morrison flagged he would next week provide the government’s response to the still-unreleased Thodey review of the public service.</p>
<p>Mrdak said in a frank memo to staff: "I was told of the government’s decision to abolish the department late yesterday afternoon. We were not permitted any opportunity to provide advice on the machinery of government changes, nor were our views ever sought on any proposal to abolish the department or to changes to our structure and operations.”</p>
<p>Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said the changes were about “centralising power”.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Departments and secretaries from February 1, 2020</h2>
<ul>
<li><p>Department of agriculture, water and the environment - Andrew Metcalfe </p></li>
<li><p>Attorney-general’s department - Chris Moraitis </p></li>
<li><p>Department of defence - Greg Moriarty</p></li>
<li><p>Department of education, skills and employment - Michelle Bruniges </p></li>
<li><p>Department of finance - Rosemary Huxtable</p></li>
<li><p>Department of foreign affairs and trade - Frances Adamson</p></li>
<li><p>Department of health - Glenys Beauchamp </p></li>
<li><p>Department of home affairs - Michael Pezzullo</p></li>
<li><p>Department of industry, science, energy and resources - David Fredericks</p></li>
<li><p>Department of infrastructure, transport, regional development and communications - Simon Atkinson</p></li>
<li><p>Department of the prime minister and cabinet - Philip Gaetjens</p></li>
<li><p>Department of social services - Kathryn Campbell </p></li>
<li><p>Department of the treasury - Steven Kennedy </p></li>
<li><p>Department of veterans’ affairs - Liz Cosson</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Morrison said the shrinking of the number of departments was “to ensure the services that Australians rely on are delivered more efficiently and effectively”.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1231812019-09-10T01:05:37Z2019-09-10T01:05:37ZDon’t practice ‘promiscuous partisanship’, former public service commissioner warns bureaucrats<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291451/original/file-20190909-109952-88qqrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Delivering the Parliamentary Library Lecture on Tuesday, Podger said the incentives for senior public servants had changed, and this had affected the way they acted.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blurred-background-people-working-coffee-cafe-1415252102?src=Xq5JoxrYJnpiFybInwARsQ-5-20">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The relationship between ministers and the Australian public service has transformed from a partnership to one more like “master-servant”, with the “master” including the minister’s staff, according to former senior bureaucrat Andrew Podger.</p>
<p>Podger, who headed various federal departments and was public service commissioner, said this had come about through the “thickening” of the interaction between the public service and ministers, coupled with the professionalisation of politics.</p>
<p>Delivering the Parliamentary Library Lecture on Tuesday, Podger said the incentives for senior public servants had changed, and this had affected the way they acted.</p>
<p>“Controlling the public service to minimise political risk is too often given more weight than taking advantage of the intellectual capacity and administrative experience the APS has to offer’”, he said.</p>
<p>Some senior public servants tried to demonstrate “responsiveness” to please their “masters” “by devoting resources to more tactical and immediate support than to strategic and longer term advice”.</p>
<p>This was, in the term coined by the late Peter Aucoin, a Canadian expert on public administration, to exercise “promiscuous partisanship” - “a willingness to go too far in supporting the elected government’s political agenda and then switching when government changes, going too far again in supporting the new government’s political agenda.</p>
<p>"They presumably think this demonstrates non-partisanship, but it really just prostitutes the professional apolitical role of the APS, blurring the line between the role of the APS and that of ministerial staff and undermining the confidence of the parliament and the public in the APS as an apolitical institution,” Podger said.</p>
<p>His observations come ahead of the release of the Thodey review of the APS and after Scott Morrison has made it clear that he sees the service’s role as primarily implementation of the government’s agenda, downplaying its provision of wider advice.</p>
<p>Podger said he thought the view that a more independent public service offered ministers greater political risk than benefit “is more often the view of ministerial staff than ministers themselves”.</p>
<p>“A government genuinely determined to improve services to Australians and to pursue policies in our long-term interests should value a highly capable civil service.”</p>
<p>He was hopeful Morrison on reflection “takes a broader view of the important role of the APS that goes beyond service delivery and implementation of government policies, to encompass strategic policy advice that is taken seriously”.</p>
<p>Challenges the government would face, including those identified by Morrison in relation to the economy and global uncertainty, would require calling on expert bureaucratic advice, he said.</p>
<p>“Investing in the capability of the APS and nurturing it as an institution is a particular responsibility of any prime minister.”</p>
<p>Podger said the role of the public service commissioner needed strengthening. This was “particularly in light of the common practice in recent decades of prime ministers appointing individuals known and favoured personally by them as secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet”.</p>
<p>Morrison has recently appointed Phil Gaetjens as head of the Prime Minister’s department. Gaetjens was chief of staff to Morrison when he was treasurer.</p>
<p>“The APS needs a clear and separate professional head of the service, focused on stewardship of the APS and its capability to serve future governments as well as the current one,” Podger said.</p>
<p>“The secretary of PM&C is the operational head, marshalling the resources of the APS to meet the requirements and lawful directions of the prime minister and the cabinet.” </p>
<p>Podger urged a more independent process for appointing departmental heads, with the APS commissioner taking the lead role in advising on secretary appointments. </p>
<p>Under this process, the prime minister would be required to consider advice from a panel led by the commissioner and including up to two other secretaries selected by the commissioner. If the PM did not follow the panel’s advice, he or she would have to table in parliament the reasons for selecting someone else.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The former public service commissioner said the relationship between ministers and the Australian public service has transformed from a partnership to one more like “master-servant”.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1220212019-08-18T12:38:14Z2019-08-18T12:38:14ZScott Morrison tells public servants: keep in mind the ‘bacon and eggs’ principle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288429/original/file-20190818-192246-6gotud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Morrison describes the “the bacon and eggs principle" where "the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed".</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Shutterstock/The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scott Morrison has a sharp lecture for bureaucrats about their KPIs, in a comprehensive speech laying down how he expects the Australian Public Service to operate under his government.</p>
<p>Morrison stresses the service must be responsive to both its ministers and the “quiet Australians”, look beyond the noisy “bubble”, and be more open to outsiders, in a Monday address to the Institute of Public Administration, issued beforehand.</p>
<p>He calls for a “step-change” in improving delivery, greater diversity of views within the service, and the “busting” of regulatory congestion.</p>
<p>The Prime Minister is producing his blueprint ahead of formally receiving the report from the comprehensive review led by businessman David Thodey, which is coming within weeks – although Morrison has had discussions on its content and reportedly told the panel to take a tougher line on performance standards.</p>
<p>His speech themes build on views he has previously articulated, directly to departmental secretaries and in media comments. His focus is heavily on better service delivery, and his message to the bureaucrats is to remember they are on tap not on top. His concept is narrower than the ideas in a report, commissioned by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and released last week, which highlighted the need for more creative thinking and a greater scope for public servants to speak truth to power in their advisory role.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-on-the-creeping-crisis-in-the-public-service-121818">Politics with Michelle Grattan: on the 'creeping crisis' in the public service</a>
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<p>In his speech Morrison also has very direct words for his ministers, about running their departments. Responsibility for setting policy lies with those elected, he says - ministers must be clear about what they are asking of their public servants.</p>
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<p>They must not allow a policy leadership vacuum to be created, expecting the public service to fill it and do their job. One of the worst criticisms politicians can make of each other is that a minister is a captive of their department.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He says he has “selected and tasked my ministers to set and drive the agenda of our government”.</p>
<p>Morrison points out that accountability to parliament and the public for the government’s policies rests with those who are elected.</p>
<p>“Only those who have put their name on a ballot can truly understand the significance of that accountability. I know you [public servants] might feel sometimes that you are absolutely right in what you are suggesting, but I can tell you when it is you that is facing the public and must look your constituents in the eye, it gives you a unique perspective.”</p>
<p>He says his rugby coach used to describe this as “the bacon and eggs principle – the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.</p>
<p>"That is why under our system of government it must be ministers who set the policy direction.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-morrison-can-learn-a-lot-from-the-public-servants-but-will-he-listen-121646">Grattan on Friday: Morrison can learn a lot from the public servants, but will he listen?</a>
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<p>Morrison sets out six “guideposts” for the evolution of the public service and his priorities:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the “respect and expect” principle, defining the relationship between government and the bureaucracy</p></li>
<li><p>the centrality of implementation</p></li>
<li><p>“look at the scoreboard” - a strong emphasis on “priorities, targets and metrics across all portfolios”. (He says he has established a Priorities and Delivery Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department, and cabinet ministers are developing objectives and targets.)</p></li>
<li><p>having eyes on “middle Australia” - looking “beyond the bubble” of the “many highly organised and well resourced interests” that go often to Canberra and are in the media</p></li>
<li><p>following the “Ray Price principle”, a reference to a former leading Rugby League player dubbed “Mr Perpetual Motion” - adapting amid constant change</p></li>
<li><p>honouring the public service code of governance and integrity across the bureaucracy.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>On implementation, Morrison says: “Ensuring services are delivered seamlessly and efficiently, when and where they are needed, is a key priority of my government.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Good government is about receiving excellent policy advice. But that advice is only as good as the consideration in detail that it gives to implementation and execution.</p>
<p>And this is not an exercise in providing a detached and dispassionate summary of risks that are logged in the ‘told you so’ file for reference in future memoirs. </p>
<p>It’s about telling governments how things can be done, not just the risks of doing them, or saying why they shouldn’t. The public service is meant to be an enabler of government policy not an obstacle.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-restore-trust-in-government-we-need-to-reinvent-how-the-public-service-works-121634">To restore trust in government, we need to reinvent how the public service works</a>
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<p>Morrison says the thinking behind his establishment of Services Australia – in the post-election reshuffle - "isn’t some fancy re-branding exercise.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s a message to the whole of the APS – top-to-bottom – about what matters to people.</p>
<p>It’s about ‘doing the little things well’ – everything from reducing call waiting times and turnaround on correspondence right through to improving the experience people have walking into a Centrelink office.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Highlighting the "quiet Australians”, Morrison says “the vast majority” of people “will never come to Canberra to lobby government. They won’t stay at the Hyatt. Or lunch at the Ottoman. Or kick back in the Chairman’s Lounge at Canberra airport after a day of meetings.”</p>
<p>But these members of the public are the public service’s stakeholders - not the “vested and organised interests that pretend to this status,” he says.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I want the APS to have a laser-like focus on serving these quiet Australians. Those you don’t meet with and never hear from. Australians who just get on with it, but who often feel their voice gets drowned out by shoutier ones in our public square.</p>
<p>There is strong evidence that the ‘trust deficit’ that has afflicted many Western democracies over recent years stems in part from a perception that politics is very responsive to those at the top and those at the bottom, but not so much to those in the middle.</p>
<p>This will not be the case under my government.</p>
<p>Middle Australia needs to know that the government (including the public service) is on their side.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Declaring the public service should value diversity, Morrison says “a commitment to diversity should encompass diversity of viewpoints within the APS. There is compelling evidence that this helps teams find answers to complex problems by bringing together people who approach questions from different points of view.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s vital that the APS avoid the sort of stale conventional wisdoms and orthodoxies that can infuse all large organisations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Urging more two-way flow between the public service and outside employment, Morrison says: "We need to find new ways for smart, dedicated Australians to make a contribution to public service, to see a stint in the public service as part of their career journey. And likewise for career public servants to see time outside of the APS in the non-government sector and in business as an important part of their career journey.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ahead of the formal receipt of the Thodey report on the public service, Morrison stresses the service must be responsive to both its ministers and the “quiet Australians”.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218182019-08-13T08:00:08Z2019-08-13T08:00:08ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: on the ‘creeping crisis’ in the public service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287813/original/file-20190813-9409-bmo7k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Beth Noveck and Rod Glover argue that to reverse the 'creeping crisis' faced by the public service, the government must train public servants to use creative problem-solving methods.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scott Morrison has voiced his intention to shake up the federal public service - seeking to make it more efficient in implementing the government’s agenda. A review of the public service led by David Thodey is now finished.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Professor Beth Noveck and Professor Rod Glover have released a timely study of the public service, titled <a href="https://www.anzsog.edu.au/resource-library/news-media/todays-problems-yesterdays-toolkit-public-service">Today’s problems, Yesterday’s toolkit</a>. Commissioned by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, it builds on interviews with almost 400 public servants - most of them Australians. </p>
<p>In this podcast episode, Noveck and Glover discuss the “creeping crisis” of effectiveness and legitimacy the Australian public service is facing. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Blunt public sector management tools, including hiring freezes, efficiency dividends, and funding cuts that hobble innovative or experimental initiatives, are creating what interviewees for this study describe as a creeping crisis for the public sector. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>To reverse this trend, they say the government must ensure public servants have a “ 21st century toolkit” to solve public problems. They point to the private sector’s “use of creative problem-solving methods, enabled by new technologies” as an example to follow. </p>
<p>They argue that “improving individual skills provides the linchpin for tackling public problems and restoring trust in government”.</p>
<p>The report is <a href="https://via.hypothes.is/https://www.anzsog.edu.au/preview-documents/publications-and-brochures/5425-today-s-problems-yesterday-s-toolkit/file#annotations:query:">now available online and open to the public for comment</a>.</p>
<h2>New to podcasts?</h2>
<p>Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click <a href="http://pca.st/BVa3#t=3m34s">here</a> to listen to Politics with Michelle Grattan on Pocket Casts).</p>
<p>You can also hear it on Stitcher, Spotify or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Politics with Michelle Grattan.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/politics-with-michelle-grattan/id703425900?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL2F1L3BvZGNhc3RzL3BvbGl0aWNzLXdpdGgtbWljaGVsbGUtZ3JhdHRhbi5yc3M"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation-4/politics-with-michelle-grattan"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Politics-with-Michelle-Grattan-p227852/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://radiopublic.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-WRElBZ"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5NkaSQoUERalaLBQAqUOcC"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237984/original/file-20180925-149976-1ks72uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" width="268" height="82"></a> </p>
<h2>Additional audio</h2>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/The_Big_Loop_-_FML_original_podcast_score/Lee_Rosevere_-_The_Big_Loop_-_FML_original_podcast_score_-_10_A_List_of_Ways_to_Die">A List of Ways to Die</a>, Lee Rosevere, from Free Music Archive.</p>
<p><strong>Image:</strong></p>
<p>Shutterstock</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121818/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A timely study of the public service, titled Today's problems, Yesterday's toolkit discusses the ‘creeping crisis’ of effectiveness and legitimacy the Australian public service is facing.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1014412018-08-21T19:58:39Z2018-08-21T19:58:39ZResearch shows ‘merit’ is highly subjective and changes with our values<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232231/original/file-20180816-2918-1pywl2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6%2C6&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Selection panels interrupt women more than men and ask them more follow-up questions, subtly questioning their competence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-businesspeople-interviewing-woman-office-144677900">Andrey Popov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Who is meritorious, what constitutes merit, and how merit and gender targets can operate together are widely misunderstood questions, as <a href="https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/public-service-research-group/public-service-research-group/research-projects/role-middle-managers-progressing-gender-equity-public-sector">our new research</a> shows. </p>
<p>We spoke with almost 300 public sector middle managers. The vast majority said they wanted “the best person for the job”. They had less idea, however, of just who that “best person” might be. </p>
<p>Merit is assumed to be an objective standard, based on set criteria, which people meet or fail to meet. There are countless examples, however, of public positions that might not have been filled on merit. <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/95942-full-scale-political-row-erupts-over-the-merit-of-three-aps-appointments/">Questions</a> are being raised about several recent high-level appointments in the Australian Public Service. </p>
<p>While generally considered sacrosanct and enshrined in policy, in practice “merit” has been highly subjective and has waxed and waned according to social values. Until the 1960s, seemingly objective recruitment processes were <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8500.2006.00471a.x">highly discriminatory</a> on the basis of class, ability and race. There were requirements for minimum health standards, certificates of good character and passes in subjects offered only in private schools. </p>
<p>These processes were also highly gender-discriminatory. Merit was interpreted in ways that benefited men and worked against women. Examples included limits on the number of single women that could be employed, and a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ajph.12465">bar preventing married women from competing for jobs</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, there was a brief spotlight on merit and gender. New equal employment opportunity laws <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/09649420410541263">established clear rules</a> for assessing merit and monitoring gender in employment outcomes. </p>
<p>However, waves of public management reform led to more departmental autonomy and a reduced central focus on merit and gender.</p>
<h2>Two areas of confusion</h2>
<p>Fast forward to today, and this lack of attention to how merit and gender equity can coexist has led to confusion and a simplistic understanding of merit in two main areas.</p>
<p>The first is that managers perceive that they are hampered by process. Public sector managers largely follow a set recruitment procedure. They advertise, develop selection criteria, read resumes, shortlist, interview, check references and then appoint a suitable candidate. </p>
<p>The problem with this is that using the same narrow method and criteria may lead to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_composition">fallacy of composition</a>, recruiting more of the same without regard to the context and current gaps in a team.</p>
<p>Biases can influence selection panel members’ decisions. Researchers <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2011-04642-001">have found</a> that job advertisements and selection criteria may not be gender-neutral. </p>
<p>Unconscious biases can also come into play when assessing resumes and interviewing candidates. Research shows that selection panels <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/women-face-a-harder-time-than-men-in-interview-recruiting-bias-20170703-gx39j7.html">interrupt women more than men</a> and ask them more follow-up questions, subtly questioning their competence.</p>
<p>The second area of confusion relates to recruitment and gender targets. Some public sector organisations use targets to counter women’s under-representation in senior ranks. In Australia and internationally, <a href="http://www.5050foundation.edu.au/assets/reports/documents/2016-Reporting-Requirements-Targets-and-Quotas-for-Women-in-Leadership.pdf">targets have contributed</a> to an increase in women in leadership positions. </p>
<p>Managers we spoke with, however, were concerned that women being appointed to meet a target were “tokens”, or were chosen over better-qualified men. </p>
<h2>How do you set targets and select on merit?</h2>
<p>Merit and targets can, however, co-exist. Some managers recognised that recruiting to targets can <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/20131119_PP_targetsquotas.pdf">improve organisational outcomes</a>. Others argued that recruiting a diverse range of employees reflects the community they serve.</p>
<p>Some managers were innovative to advance gender equity while recruiting on merit. We heard stories of senior managers directing selection panels, which had shortlisted only men, to take another look at the women applicants or to broaden their search and encourage meritorious women to apply. </p>
<p>Managers recruiting for an ICT position reviewed the job requirements, realised the skills required were not technical but communication-based, and re-advertised based on an amended job description. This attracted more female candidates and a woman was duly appointed on merit. </p>
<p>Additionally, for jobs requiring technical competence, managers considered that technical skills could be learned on the job over time. They viewed capability as more important. </p>
<h2>Systemic approaches work best</h2>
<p>While training for selection panels is important, systemic approaches can more effectively ensure the merit principle is upheld. Organisations may benefit from approaches that include:</p>
<ul>
<li>recruiting for capability rather than past performance</li>
<li>providing training that recognises the myths around merit</li>
<li>encouraging conversations to counter the pervasive misunderstanding of the merit principle. </li>
</ul>
<p>Some public sector jurisdictions are <a href="https://publicsector.sa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/20070101-Guideline-Protection-of-merit-equity.pdf">providing advice</a> on how to undertake recruitment and selection to minimise biases and promote merit-based processes. But there is still a long way to go for this to become common knowledge. </p>
<p>The public sector has traditionally been considered to be a <a href="http://www.oecd.org/gov/women-government-and-policy-making.htm">model employer</a>. Implementing leading-edge practices that combine merit, gender targets and diversity can ensure it maintains this status.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The New South Wales, Queensland, South Australian and Tasmanian governments participated in, and funded this research; the Australia and New Zealand School of Government was the principal funder. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Colley receives funding from the Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) for this research, and from the ARC.</span></em></p>The vast majority of managers said they wanted “the best person for the job”. They had less idea of just who that might be, or how to ensure appointments on merit and equity targets co-exist.Sue Williamson, Lecturer, Human Resource Management, UNSW Canberra, UNSW SydneyLinda Colley, Lecturer, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/498062015-12-10T19:13:07Z2015-12-10T19:13:07ZYes minister: how political appointments tip the scales of fearless advice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103126/original/image-20151125-18267-1kx0p1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C31%2C1920%2C1287&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia's public service has gradually become more politicised in recent times.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmtimages/3286566742/in/photolist-61qvMQ-91bPKR-df4vu5-7KmaNJ-qhxi4Y-7haUXZ-mHiNDM-48qc8x-iHMMb3-PhnR7-6hv4sT-co46f5-cqfNG7-5nzYKh-395WXx-eA35G6-mHkGkj-vcMz-P9URH-7sKews-6qhShY-kmeeTY-96Bkfr-391TRa-by8Ln1-x1mvCN-cnX48f-aZV48D-cXUReL-4SZmnN-bSnCHa-xcNjZm-6QHjjc-awRrL-f8fEXm-4fy3ag-5D48Jg-3nK5gm-8ZJNBG-euuwxL-4wZwv5-bCZgen-6pkfTC-6DWwa-peqeCz-5Y3htE-by8LhA-bM3sAc-bM3sxr-bM3swk">Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some regard the Westminster tradition of a politically neutral public service as a self-serving fiction. Others see it as an ideal to which governments and their civil services should aspire, though may never quite attain. </p>
<p>There are few hard and fast conventions involved in cultivating an independent government administrative system. Yet there are traditions or principles that many see as fundamental to good governance, or even to an effective democracy. </p>
<p>Straying from these leads to accusations that the government is politicising the public service. But what that means isn’t exactly clear. It might suggest the appointment of party-political representatives to public positions; the appointment of known government sympathisers to public positions; or some other way of preventing professional civil servants from providing “<a href="http://press.anu.edu.au/titles/australia-and-new-zealand-school-of-government-anzsog-2/frank_fearless_citation/">frank and fearless</a>” advice to ministers. </p>
<p>Despite the lack of agreement about what politicisation means – and its significance – there’s almost universal criticism of governments that stray from the principles that underpin neutrality. </p>
<p>In practice, the accusation of “politicisation” often accompanies appointments made by an incoming government. These may be to departments; to government agencies, such as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-04/turnbull-not-consulted-over-appointments-to-abc-panel/5571754">the ABC</a>; to integrity agencies, such as the ombudsman; and, more often, the appointment of former politicians to <a href="https://theconversation.com/mr-hockey-goes-to-washington-so-what-challenges-will-he-face-49642">diplomatic postings</a>. </p>
<h2>Obedience and integrity</h2>
<p>The Australian Public Service operates near to the model of a professional public service where it serves successive governments without fear or favour. Changes of government typically mean that experienced, professional secretaries have remained to pilot their new ministers through. </p>
<p>There have been aberrations, such as the 1996 “<a href="https://theconversation.com/abbott-and-the-public-service-where-now-on-department-heads-18465">night of the long knives</a>” that dispatched six departmental heads. But most governments in past decades have relied on a cadre of professional civil servants to head departments and agencies even after power changes hands. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103134/original/image-20151125-18227-uqddu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Max Moore-Wilton was appointed as Australia’s top public servant by John Howard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://one.aap.com.au/#/search/Max%20Moore-Wilton">AAP</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is this cadre that enables the public service to remain as neutral as possible, especially when incoming governments are determined to implement their “mandates”. This reflects a fundamental principle that governments need to be “responsive” to their electors.</p>
<p>But problems can arise when appointees pay little attention to “frank and fearless” and see their role largely as doing the minister’s bidding. That’s stretching the notion of responsiveness too far.</p>
<p>The civil service is traditionally required to act in an impartial manner – that is, not to privilege particular interests over others and to behave in a politically neutral way. This is especially significant in relation to government agencies that investigate and adjudicate on complaints about and mistakes made by government. </p>
<h2>Simple improvements</h2>
<p>Integrity agencies, such as the Office of the Information Commissioner or the Human Rights Commission, are required to investigate citizen complaints about government behaviour. They need to be seen to be at arm’s length from government. </p>
<p>Other agencies, such as the Electoral Commission, the Auditor-General or research bodies such as CSIRO or the Productivity Commission, also need to be at arm’s length so they can operate credibly in providing balanced advice. </p>
<p>Much more can be done to promote the independence of these agencies. A fundamental problem is that they rely on funding through the budget process. Some governments, at both Commonwealth and state levels, have used this as a lever to constrain agencies from following their remit when governments are unhappy with their activities. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/respect-independent-statutory-bodies-as-central-to-democracy-37634">Human Rights Commission</a> is a recent example. </p>
<p>Making these agencies responsible to parliament, rather than to the government of the day, would mean that funding, and accountability, would be delivered through bipartisan bodies, such as the Public Accounts Committee. This would protect integrity agencies from direct government interference. </p>
<p>Governments are expected to represent a diversity of interests. That becomes less likely with a politicised public service. </p>
<p>Public agencies with responsibilities to consider the impact of policy on broad community groups, for instance, or to manage grants programs, need to have appointments that reflect community diversity. These appointments need to be treated with care to ensure they remain free of accusations of favouritism, cronyism, nepotism or vote-buying.</p>
<h2>Avoiding cynicism</h2>
<p>Cynical observers may be concerned about the politicisation of policy advice, especially that provided by public inquiries. When chaired by appointees with known views on the subject they rightly engender <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-should-a-lobby-group-chair-the-audit-commission-19523">public cynicism</a> about the likely outcomes of these ostensibly independent inquiries. </p>
<p>This was the case when noted climate sceptic <a href="https://theconversation.com/killing-renewables-softly-with-endless-reviews-23409">Dick Warburton</a> handed down a report on the Renewable Energy Target, and when education conservative <a href="https://theconversation.com/national-curriculum-the-latest-target-of-coalitions-culture-wars-21910">Kevin Donnelly</a> reviewed Australia’s national curriculum. These reports usually find their way to the rubbish bin once governments of a different hue assume office. </p>
<p>In contrast, more broad-based and less politicised inquiries – such as the <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review-of-funding-for-schooling-final-report-dec-2011.pdf">Gonski review</a> of school funding – may well retain their currency for longer. </p>
<p>There are arrangements in place that may dull the excesses of political appointments – such as the Public Accounts Committee, the Senate estimates process, codes of ministerial conduct and independent audits. </p>
<p>But unlike the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, Australia hasn’t appointed an independent commissioner for public appointments. An independent appointments body may help ensure that the government of the day cannot directly influence appointments to agencies and programs that specifically require diversity of interests and arm’s length from government.</p>
<p>The public service has gradually become more politicised in recent years. But this is a bigger problem for agencies broadly described as integrity agencies and for bodies where public perception of neutrality are important to their operations, such as the ABC or the Electoral Commission. </p>
<p>Institutional change, along the lines of what’s already operating in other democratic systems, might produce independent appointments and reduce the public angst each time a “political” appointment is made to such boards or commissions. In these cases, governments might finally accept that arm’s-length governance is preferable to public cynicism and diminution of the standing of important agencies that serve to uphold democratic standards.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of a series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/breaking-political-conventions">breaking political conventions</a>. Look out for more articles exploring various political conventions in the coming days.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Aulich holds a position on the Territories Records Advisory Council, appointed by the Chief Minister of the ACT.</span></em></p>The public service is meant to be independent and bipartisan. But “political” appointments and funding arrangements can hamstring their ability to give fair and frank advice.Chris Aulich, Visiting Professor, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/277042014-06-11T04:09:28Z2014-06-11T04:09:28ZLeaner public service will have to work smarter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50640/original/2npmv9vd-1402371880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The public sector of the future will need to embrace a new way of thinking.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the proclaimed “budget emergency”, should we get ready for the “innovation emergency”? With fewer resources, Australia’s public sector will not achieve its performance targets by working harder, but only by working smarter. And that must mean a more innovative approach to policy development and the design and delivery of our publicly provided services.</p>
<p>More fundamentally, the budget strategy requires us to ask what kind of public sector we want. Is it just lead in the saddlebag, a necessary regulator or a potential partner in value creation across our economy and society? The obvious reluctance to come to terms with climate change seems to be as much about rejecting a role for regulation as it is about the evidence of global warming.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.innovation.gov.au/science/policy/AustralianInnovationSystemReport/AISR2012/chapter-6-public-sector-and-social-innovation/index.html">emerging perspective</a> among OECD countries recognises that governments can:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…create conditions for a productive economy and society. Governments both innovate themselves and support innovation by providing infrastructure, services and programs for the community, businesses and individuals. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Australia’s case, government actions and investments account for around 35% of GDP. Announcing the “end of the age of entitlement” is unlikely to do justice to the magnitude of this management challenge.</p>
<p>Our new report for the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) <a href="http://www.ipaa.org.au/documents/2014/05/innovation-report.pdf">Australian Public Sector Innovation: Shaping the future through co-creation</a>, to be launched on Thursday by Terry Moran, attempts to address this challenge in light of international research and experience. There is much to learn from, be inspired by and to emulate in the approaches of the Nordic countries, Canada, the US, UK and New Zealand.</p>
<p>Recent studies have highlighted how innovative approaches to policy and service provision can lead to more effective responses to complex social issues. They emphasise that changing community needs, aspirations and expectations require a changed public sector. The studies also show how public sector organisations themselves can become more innovative, and they identify the cultural barriers and capability gaps that need to be addressed before high level strategies are likely to be effective.</p>
<p>The common thread in <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=517666">these studies</a> is the observation that “for those countries seeking to move ahead in the global marketplace, innovation in the public sector has become and will remain as important as it is in the private sector”. This is the case for four main reasons. In the first place, the public sector constitutes a large part of the economy, with implications for national productivity and social value creation.</p>
<p>Second, the public sector is a major customer for firms, so its procurement strategies assist in gaining access to global markets and value chains. Third, public policy addresses the increasingly complex challenges of an interconnected world, and in doing so structures the regulatory context in which innovation takes place. Fourth, organisations are the incubators of professional and entrepreneurial talent, and how this talent develops is of systemic significance for the economy and society.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2S1jeRimLY">his account of “Government as impresario”</a>, Nick Gruen identifies the growing innovation opportunities enabled by peer-to-peer technology platforms and government decisions on data openness and free access to digital assets. </p>
<p>Gruen argues that in the new digital economy, government should view itself as an information funder and wholesaler, an innovation partner, a promoter of information platforms, a sponsor of standards and a collective purchaser, in order to maximise the innovation benefits from its decisions.</p>
<p>But innovation, by definition, involves uncertainty and risk. The incentives for private sector innovation are clear - market share and profit are firmly planted in the minds of executives. On the other hand, the public sector is risk averse, with a deeply entrenched culture and operating environment creating a level of inertia that puts it at odds with innovation. So, how can public sector organisations develop the capacity to seek, secure and sustain innovation? </p>
<p>Innovation is a way of thinking and acting that challenges all of us. Efforts are only likely to be effective and sustained when an organisation develops a culture that supports innovation and a strategy that seeks it.</p>
<p>The public sector of the future will need to explore new business models, open innovation, co-creation, user-centric approaches and high levels of employee engagement. Innovation thrives on people with a diversity of skills and knowledge prepared to work together to implement and sustain innovation. It can neither be fully planned nor de-risked.</p>
<p>Two aspects of innovation, which require different skills and capabilities, are vital. First, “focused innovation” prioritises continuous improvement and arms organisations with capabilities to improve existing products, services and processes. </p>
<p>The second tenet, “re-framing innovation”, identifies new transformative approaches and desirable futures, including those which address “wicked” problems or intractable situations.</p>
<p>These new directions for innovation in the public sector require the public sector to sense, seize and transform opportunities, adapt and manoeuvre their knowledge-based assets, and reposition their knowledge sourcing strategies.</p>
<p>Beyond budget cuts and “efficiency savings”, Australia needs a strategic framework for managing innovation in its large and diverse public sector. This can only happen on the basis of a shared understanding that the design and delivery of our public services is an integral part of the national innovation ecosystem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roy Green acknowledges funding support from the Institute of Public Administration Australia for preparation of this report.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don Scott-Kemmis has received funding from the former Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education - now Department of Industry - for a review of public sector innovation initiatives in several other countries.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>I have no relevant issues that needs to be disclosed relating to this article</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renu Agarwal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the wake of the proclaimed “budget emergency”, should we get ready for the “innovation emergency”? With fewer resources, Australia’s public sector will not achieve its performance targets by working…Roy Green, Dean of UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyDon Scott-Kemmis, Associate Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyGoran Roos, Professor of Business and Strategic Design, Swinburne University of TechnologyRenu Agarwal, Senior Lecturer, Innovation and Service Operations Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/261852014-05-02T03:35:32Z2014-05-02T03:35:32ZWe need a leaner, meaner public service: Commission of Audit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47618/original/8yprrp7m-1398999293.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Commission of Audit, led by Tony Shepherd, has recommended radical changes to the way we do government in Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Commission of Audit’s <a href="http://www.ncoa.gov.au/">report</a>, released yesterday, sets out a radical blueprint for the role of government, the scope of its activities and how it goes about getting things done. For the most part there are no surprises. But if the report’s recommendations are adopted, it would transform the way we do government in Australia.</p>
<h2>The ten commandments</h2>
<p>These values informing the Commission of Audit’s report are captured in the Principles of Good Government that open the report: ten commandments handed down from the commissioners that shaped their investigations and should, they argue, help ensure that the goals of government are achieved.</p>
<p>The underlying notions are simple. Cut spending, compete, give citizens choice, reduce complexity, increase transparency, value for money, target, cut red tape, markets are best, and government should get out of the way.</p>
<h2>What does it mean for the public service?</h2>
<p>What the Commission of Audit recommends for the public service is profound. There was never any question that the Commission of Audit would make sweeping – potentially transformational – recommendations that would change the shape, structure and operations of the Australian Public Service (APS) itself.</p>
<p><strong>Size</strong>
<br>
Australia’s public service is too big. The Commission of Audit recommends cutting the APS by 15,000 employees. However, Commission of Audit chairman Tony Shepherd has since told a Senate hearing that he doesn’t know where the number came from.</p>
<p>The scaling back in size would presumably come from the reduced scope of government, but also recommendations about how the APS should be structured and staffed.</p>
<p><strong>Scope</strong>
<br>
The Commission of Audit found that the public sector does too much. The report suggests that the scope of what the APS does should be scaled back. </p>
<p>More of the public sector’s activities should be sent out to the private and non-profit sector. Some of this would be achieved by privatising government assets such as Australia Post, Snowy Hydro Limited and COMCAR, but also through increasing outsourcing across the board. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most controversial recommendation is to outsource the Department of Human Services’ payments system, but the Commission of Audit also recommends outsourcing in areas such as visa processing. </p>
<p>Fixing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-commission-of-audit-lead-to-another-new-federalism-26176">broken federation</a> would clarify roles and responsibilities as the Commonwealth moved out of areas it had strayed into more and more over the years. Schools education and health are the obvious candidates. There are clear recommendations on scaling back the scope of activity – which will mean shrinking departments and job losses.</p>
<p>There is also a push for increased self-reliance: for government to let citizens do those things they can best do themselves. In other words, government needs to get out of the way – of individual citizens, the states and territories, and the private and non-profit sectors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47621/original/mddp7h4d-1399000258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Any cuts to the public service on the scale recommended by the Commission of Audit are likely to encounter significant opposition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Tracey Nearmy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Structure</strong>
<br>
The Commission of Audit argues that there are too many government bodies. The report points to the proliferation of organisations that populate the Commonwealth and the need to consolidate abolish, merge, privatise and review a range of these. </p>
<p>Few would probably argue with this principle. However, implementing these would have major repercussions in practice. Consolidating border protection and health bodies are just two of the suggestions. </p>
<p>The other big ticket item in this area is the Australian Public Service Commission. The report basically suggests the commission should be abolished, with its activities carved up and split between other departments. </p>
<p><strong>Staff</strong>
<br>
The APS needs to be more productive. There are too many public servants; there is too much rigidity in the APS employment model; there is an underperformance problem that is not being adequately addressed; and there is a potential skill mismatch between what we need for a new APS and what we have. </p>
<p>Much is made of the notion of the span of control – how many people supervisors have under their watch – and how increasing it will drive efficiency. There is detailed analysis of organisations against a “best practice span”. This is pure nonsense, but don’t rule this out as a way of driving structural changes within organisations and major re-designs. </p>
<p>Ideally, any reform would happen in a strategic framework around questions such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>What does the organisation do? </li>
<li>What are the goals? </li>
<li>What skills do we need? </li>
<li>How do we design jobs? </li>
</ul>
<p>Despite this, don’t be surprised to see this emerge as a new management principle and a hard target across the APS.</p>
<h2>Back to the future?</h2>
<p>Large parts of what the Commission of Audit has recommended in its vision for transforming the APS are not new. We have had the debate about size, scope, structure and staff for decades. </p>
<p>The Commission of Audit members maintain incredible faith in the power of the market to solve problems – more privatisation, more contestability, smaller government and fewer rules are easy prescriptions. But we also have plenty of experience of this in Australia and from abroad, albeit mostly missing from the report and its reference lists. </p>
<p>Getting the public service to be more productive, more effective and more efficient in an environment where politics rules is much harder.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26185/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janine O'Flynn receives has received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Public Service Commission. </span></em></p>The Commission of Audit’s report, released yesterday, sets out a radical blueprint for the role of government, the scope of its activities and how it goes about getting things done. For the most part there…Janine O'Flynn, Professor of Public Management, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199082013-11-12T01:17:03Z2013-11-12T01:17:03ZHow efficient is Australia’s public sector? Short answer: very<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34880/original/rwg5mg6j-1384137551.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is Australia's public sector delivering the right levels of 'bang' in return for our 'bucks'?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How efficient is Australia’s public sector? This question is difficult to answer with precision, but important to all of us. After all, this is our money being spent on us and the things we care about. We have a right to expect that we are getting the best possible “bang for our bucks”. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://cpd.org.au/2013/11/false-economies-part-2-more-bang-for-our-bucks-landmark-report/">recent research</a> for the Centre for Policy Development looks at the evidence we have to answer this question. The indications are that Australia’s public sector compares extremely well internationally, and does as good a job as the vaunted efficiency of the private sector.</p>
<p>The international evidence is that Australia’s government is highly effective compared with similar nations. The World Bank’s measurement of government effectiveness places Australia as <a href="http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports">ninth most effective</a> amongst OECD nations in 2010.</p>
<p>This should not be surprising. When considering the performance of Australia’s public sector in areas such as health and education, we will generally use comparisons with northern European nations who spend a great deal on their public services and generate very good results.</p>
<p>However, what is interesting is that Australia’s taxation levels are much lower than those of northern Europe. Instead, these levels are similar to low-taxing nations such as Korea and the US. In fact, Australia was the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/revenue-statistics.htm">fifth lowest taxing nation</a> in the OECD in 2010. </p>
<p>To appreciate what this means about Australia’s efficiency, the following scatter-plot shows OECD nations’ rank in effectiveness and their reverse rank in taxation. The nations closest to the top right-hand corner have the highest effectiveness and lowest levels of taxation. Getting big results compared to the resources used (good “bang for your buck”) is an important aspect of efficiency, so these nations at the top right are the most efficient on this measure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34835/original/6trc3btw-1384090369.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">OECD nations ranked by lowest taxing and highest effectiveness (2010)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adapted from OECD, Revenue Statistics 1965-2010: 2011 Edition, 2011; and World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2013.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is possible to debate some aspects of the measurements behind this graph. This means it is indicative rather than precise. But, the clear indication it gives is that Australia is amongst the best in this aspect of efficiency. Australia performs similarly well in other aspects.</p>
<p>However, there is often a false assumption that all government bureaucracies are inefficient. This kind of thinking would argue that international comparisons merely show Australia to be the best of the worst. But the assumption that the private sector is always necessarily more efficient than the public sector is <a href="https://theconversation.com/pursuing-efficiency-in-the-public-sector-why-privatisation-is-not-necessarily-the-answer-13142">not supported by theory or evidence</a>.</p>
<p>International <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Contracting_Out_Government_Services.html?id=VPCeAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">research on outsourcing</a> indicates that under similar conditions, public sector organisations in general perform similarly to private sector organisations. This provides a good indication that Australia’s public sector, which is more efficient than many similar public sectors internationally, would likewise perform as well as the private sector.</p>
<p>There is a significant complicating factor in the comparison of public and private sectors. Even where they may seem to be doing the same job, public sector providers of services often are expected to fulfil objects beyond simply providing the core service. As a result, they are actually doing a harder job.</p>
<p>Some of the difficulties can be seen in a <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/hospitals/report">report by the Productivity Commission</a> on public and private hospitals. Although the two sectors operate in the same industry, the report detailed a number of differences in the jobs they perform. The public sector ran more hospitals in remote areas, engaged in more palliative care, did more teaching, did the vast majority of accident and emergency work, and had more children and young people as patients.</p>
<p>The Productivity Commission report attempted to statistically take into account these differences in its comparison. The findings were that the efficiency of each sector is very similar, with both having areas of strength compared to the other. </p>
<p>It is important to note that the Productivity Commission report acknowledged some weaknesses in its analysis, and it is not possible to be certain that all the additional responsibilities of public sector hospitals were fully taken into account.</p>
<p>So, it seems Australia’s public sector is lean and keen. However, this positive assessment should not be taken to imply that no improvements can be made to public sector efficiency. Further public sector efficiency improvements should be continually sought in order to ensure the most possible public value is gained from public funds.</p>
<p>Of course, any attempts to improve its efficiency must start from the understanding that Australia’s public sector is highly efficient. Unfortunately, the Abbott government’s new <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/commission-of-audit-to-look-for-more-privatisation-opportunities/story-e6frfkp9-1226747656783">Commission of Audit</a> makes no mention in its <a href="http://www.financeminister.gov.au/docs/NCA_TERMS_OF_REFERENCE.pdf">terms of reference</a> of any need to establish how efficient government activities currently are before attempting to improve them. </p>
<p>This is concerning because there is a large difference in the reforms needed to fundamentally restructure a very inefficient government, and those needed to refine the activities of an already highly efficient government.</p>
<p>While striving for improved performance is important, previous achievements should not be taken for granted - or worse, reversed. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work draws on research conducted for the Centre for Policy Development's Public Service Research Program which is funded by the CPSU, the Becher Foundation and Slater & Gordon.</span></em></p>How efficient is Australia’s public sector? This question is difficult to answer with precision, but important to all of us. After all, this is our money being spent on us and the things we care about…Christopher Stone, PhD Student, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184652013-09-20T05:10:42Z2013-09-20T05:10:42ZAbbott and the public service: where now on department heads?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31711/original/zfvd29py-1379652737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In one of his first acts in office, prime minister Tony Abbott axed three department heads, while treasury secretary Martin Parkinson (pictured) will depart next year.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Saeed Khan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime minister Tony Abbott’s decision to <a href="https://theconversation.com/public-servants-victims-of-long-coalition-memories-18372">sack three departmental secretaries</a> within hours of his swearing-in earlier this week has not attracted the same shock John Howard’s decision to sack six secretaries caused in 1996.</p>
<p>At that time, Paul Keating’s removal of secretaries’ tenure in 1994 was yet to be exercised. However, 17 years later, secretaries are painfully aware that tenure has gone and, while dismissals are not common, failure to re-appoint is certainly a frequent occurrence.</p>
<p>Perhaps Abbott’s move was not a “night of the long knives”, then, but sadly it was a failure to respond positively to Kevin Rudd’s attempt in 2007 to restore the concept of a public service with a significant degree of independence from political pressures. It has also (again, sadly) clarified that the <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2013A00002">Public Service Amendment Act (2013)</a> does not provide any serious constraint on prime ministerial discretion over secretary appointments and terminations, despite the rhetoric of the Second Reading Speech and the unanimous support in parliament for the legislation.</p>
<p>Rudd’s decision to retain all the secretaries he inherited - including several with histories of close association with the conservative side of politics or records that gave reason for Labor to query their non-partisanship - gave hope to the Australian Public Service (APS) leadership that a corner had been turned which future governments of either persuasion would follow. That is, that new governments would not act unexpectedly on suspicion of partisanship or lack of professional integrity, but would allow a period to test the loyalty and competence of the secretaries they inherit.</p>
<p>Rudd followed up his approach by other measures pressed by Senator John Faulkner to strengthen the professional non-partisanship of the APS. These included: involving the Public Service Commissioner in appointments and terminations, removing performance pay, setting five years as the standard contract period (rather than the increasing use of three year contracts) and the introduction of a code of conduct for ministerial staff. </p>
<p>Several of these are now reflected in the Public Service Act after amendments agreed unanimously earlier this year. The amended act also now requires appointments and terminations by the governor-general, a presentational change but one I and others had hoped conveyed an important principle about the status of the APS as an institution.</p>
<p>It is true nonetheless that Rudd and Julia Gillard and their ministers did not always demonstrate Faulkner’s appreciation of the proper role of the public service. The manner in which Rudd and Wayne Swan used Treasury to shield their own accountability for economic and budgetary policy was hardly consistent with the distinctions between politics and administration, or with the lines of accountability that Faulkner had been trying to clarify. </p>
<p>This was also true in other policy areas, including immigration and climate change, exposing and using public service advice – selectively of course – for political ends. Perhaps some officials allowed themselves to be used too much, but most fault surely lies with ministers and the then-government. To the extent that fault lies with officials, I personally had hoped Abbott would show the same magnanimity Rudd demonstrated in 2007 and allow the relevant secretaries to prove (or otherwise) their ability to serve his government before acting to terminate appointments.</p>
<p>Most commentators have not been critical of the decision to terminate the contract of <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/09/18/ausaid-be-absorbed-department-foreign-affairs-and-trade">industry department head Don Russell</a>. Certainly, he demonstrated partisanship when on prime minister Keating’s staff and Abbott has good reason to be uncertain of his capacity to serve the conservative government loyally. But Rudd might equally have had doubts about some secretaries he inherited, such as <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/chaos-reigns-in-rudds-office/story-e6frg6no-1111116694941">Michael l’Estrange</a>, who had played a prominent role on John Howard’s staff as Cabinet secretary. </p>
<p>In my view, l’Estrange was a highly competent and professional secretary who never - in that role - showed partisanship, serving Rudd and Gillard well. Could Russell have done so for Abbott? My guess is that he could have had he wished to stay on, given his long APS experience and his sharp intelligence.</p>
<p>The other two (agriculture department head Andrew Metcalfe and Resources, Energy and Tourism’s Blair Comley) should definitely have been kept on. Both are proven career public servants who were asked to take on jobs in amongst the most politically sensitive fields imaginable. </p>
<p>Perhaps they allowed themselves to be used to promote the then-government’s policies. But arguably that was true of some secretaries Rudd inherited, such as Peter Boxall and Jane Halton. Halton, for example, attracted concern on the Labor side because of the manner of her <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/28/1023864657707.html">defence of the Children Overboard case</a>. </p>
<p>The issue is whether these apparent, excessively responsive behaviours justify dismissals by a new government despite the overall competence of the individuals concerned. In Metcalfe’s case, the new government had first-hand knowledge, after he <a href="http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/immigration-department-secretary-andrew-metcalfe/story-e6frfkp9-1226169050176">criticised</a> their asylum seeker policies while in his former role as head of the immigration department in 2011.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31712/original/tq6qg6k9-1379653204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recent legislative changes did not spare the axe falling on three department heads earlier this week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alan Porritt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The case of treasury secretary Martin Parkinson is not yet clear after it was announced that he would <a href="http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Politics/2013/09/18/Parkinson_around_for_one_last_budget_907251.html">leave his post</a> midway through next year. I do not know the extent to which he is being pushed out rather than willingly contemplating another role, but if he too is being pressured to go without Abbott having yet tested his competence and loyalty, that is most unfortunate. </p>
<p>The one good element of the Abbott announcement was the appointment of <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national-news/federal-election/prime-minister-tony-abbott-sworn-in-and-then-a-public-service-shakeup/story-fnho52ip-1226721972029">two career public servants</a> to fill the vacancies. That at least does show some respect for the APS.</p>
<p>What messages is Abbott giving secretaries and the APS? It is just possible there is one positive message: to be very careful about the fine line between explaining and marketing government policies. As the late Canadian academic Peter Aucoin <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/promiscuously-partisan-bureaucracies-20120430-1xu31.html">opined</a>, we have seen too much “promiscuous non-partisanship” in recent years: public servants willing to serve whichever side of politics is in power, but to do so with excessive responsiveness giving the public reason to doubt the impartial professionalism of their advice and administration. </p>
<p>In my view, this was becoming a major problem under the Howard government, and did not diminish appreciably under the Rudd and Gillard governments.</p>
<p>My fear, however, is that that is not the main message intended, nor the main one received. More likely is the message that public servants must indeed be even more careful in their advice - whether in public or private - and not do anything that might provoke retribution. They should also be wary of taking on politically sensitive tasks.</p>
<p>If the message was for a genuine return to professionalism, impartiality and non-partisanship, then that would have best been imparted by retaining the secretaries Abbott inherited and advising them all clearly what the Government expects in terms of loyalty. The APS leadership - particularly the APS Commissioner and the Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet (both of whom are thankfully strong traditionalists) - would then have responsibility to clarify that this does not permit “promiscuous non-partisanship” and that it does require “frank and fearless” advice. </p>
<p>Given the decisions taken, however, the APS Commissioner and PM&C secretary just have to do their best to encourage the APS not to be even more risk averse and to meet their responsibilities for frank and fearless advice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Podger was Public Service Commissioner from 2002-2004 and has held other senior positions in the public service.</span></em></p>Prime minister Tony Abbott’s decision to sack three departmental secretaries within hours of his swearing-in earlier this week has not attracted the same shock John Howard’s decision to sack six secretaries…Andrew Podger, Professor of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/178772013-09-09T04:32:08Z2013-09-09T04:32:08ZTransition to government: what now for the public service?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30966/original/2skn9hng-1378694047.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Coalition government’s attitude towards the public service is unclear beyond its promise to cut 12,000 jobs</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Alan Porritt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Commonwealth public servants will have arrived at their offices this morning feeling a mix of relief and trepidation. Relief because the disorder and uncertainty of serving a divided and besieged minority government is finished. Trepidation because deep cuts loom.</p>
<p>So far, the Coalition government’s attitude towards the public service is unclear beyond its promise to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/coalition-to-slash-12000-jobs-56bn/story-e6frfkp9-1226712533092">cut 12,000 jobs</a>, to “end the waste” and to launch a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-05/tony-abbott-happy-for-open-book-audit-of-spending/4937416">Commission of Audit</a> to review government finances and the scope of public sector activity.</p>
<p>This will be some public servants’ first transition of government. So what can they expect in these first few days of Tony Abbott’s government? And how might public servants lay the foundations for effective working relationships with ministers and their offices?</p>
<h2>Abbott’s inner circle</h2>
<p>Abbott, his personal staff and members of his shadow cabinet will be feeling a heady mix of euphoria and chaos after campaigning continuously for more than three years.</p>
<p>The adrenaline that comes from victory and what they will see as vindication will carry them through these early weeks. However, they would be well advised to avoid the freneticism that characterised the opening phase of Kevin Rudd’s tenure (and became his modus operandi) and instead set a calm and steady pace between now and Christmas. </p>
<p>Abbott and his team should take a long summer break to recharge to meet the intense physical demands of governing and to begin to master their briefs. The Australian public is likely to thank rather than punish him for it.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30963/original/wbvvtrxz-1378691887.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abbott has attempted to moderate expectations during the transition period.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Paul Miller</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Very sensibly, Abbott used his victory speech to moderate expectations among members of his own team, the media, business and the litany of other stakeholders, all desperate to influence and shape his government’s agenda. </p>
<p>This buys Australia’s 28th prime minister much-needed time to form his ministry; decide on machinery-of-government changes he deems necessary to pursue his policy agenda; and start the process of “staffing up” his office (his opposition staff will grow from 38 staff to more than 50) and the offices of senior ministers.</p>
<h2>Logistics</h2>
<p>Important logistical matters also require attention during the transition period. This includes allowing former Rudd ministers to move out of their parliamentary and state-based ministerial offices and for new ministers to move in. </p>
<p>It also involves retrieving government assets such as mobile phones, computers and cars from outgoing ministers and their staff, and ensuring essential equipment is available to incoming ministers and supporting them to get their offices up and running as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>The scope of this logistical task should not be underestimated, especially when one considers the need for the former prime minister and his family to vacate both The Lodge and Kirribilli House. It is not yet clear whether the Abbotts will make The Lodge their primary residence, or follow John Howard in basing themselves in Sydney. Either way, it’s a big undertaking that needs to be coordinated through the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).</p>
<p>While all this is happening, below the level of department secretary, the public service can expect that aside from the prime minister and his most senior ministers, there will be very little direct engagement with the new government. Not that some shadow ministers and their staff will necessarily understand this.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30958/original/drd4vspx-1378690061.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abbott has indicated his administrative style will be entirely different to that of his Labor predecessor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From shadow to ministry</h2>
<p>In opposition, Abbott constantly emphasised the stability of his shadow cabinet – strategically drawing the obvious contrast with the churn within Labor as the government staggered from leadership crisis to crisis. He consistently promised they would be his team in government. However, the latter weeks of the campaign saw Abbott make a subtle but distinct shift on this commitment. </p>
<p>Ministerial aspirants will be cooling their heels waiting for the prime minister’s call. It might never come. Some might demand they be provided with the Incoming Government Briefs that departments meticulously prepare during the caretaker period. But nothing should be provided unless and until the prime minister says so. This can be awkward and potentially poisonous for relationships.</p>
<p>After the turmoil of the past few years, the public service will be reassured by the approach signalled in Tony Abbott’s election victory speech. Declaring Australia “under new management”, he indicated his administrative style will be entirely different to that of his Labor predecessor:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I now look forward to forming a government that is competent, that is trustworthy, and which purposefully and steadfastly and methodically sets about delivering on our commitments. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Abbott has some good people around him, many of whom have administrative experience and networks in Canberra that his Labor predecessors seemed to lack. Members of his transition team, notably Andrew Robb and Arthur Sinodinos, understand the importance of organising and managing the government to maintain discipline and coherence. They appreciate the critical importance of “hitting the ground running” by attending to policy, politics, people and process. </p>
<p>An intellectual appreciation of this is one thing, successfully executing it is quite another. Even John Howard, now lauded as one of the greatest prime ministers, struggled to make a successful transition – to seize the levers of power during his first 18 months in office. Perhaps ironically, Kevin Rudd made a better start than most.</p>
<h2>Working together</h2>
<p>Abbott is right when he says campaigning is not governing, so it will be interesting to see how effectively he and members of his team are able to make the shift. </p>
<p>The public service will be especially keen to learn about the new prime minister’s attitude towards it. Will he and his ministers be suspicious and distrustful of the senior leadership – secretaries and the senior executive service? </p>
<p>Or will Abbott proceed from a position of trust – requiring his ministers to build respectful, professional relationships with departments, such as he was known for having in his time as a cabinet minister under John Howard.</p>
<p>While it waits, the public service can demonstrate its essential and enduring value within our system of government, by being professional and doing everything it can to assist the new government to make a successful transition. Officials can be empathetic to the demands on new ministers and their staff and help meet their immediate needs, such as establishing office routines and procedures to handle the flood of briefings, correspondence, meeting and speech requests. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1098&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1098&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30964/original/5m6rzbqr-1378692095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1098&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The job of the public service is to serve the government of the day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Departments can show they have used the caretaker period to get across the government’s election commitments, its agenda and priorities and be ready to open a dialogue with ministers and their staff about how these can best be delivered, the timeframe and mechanisms for implementation, the risks and the costs.</p>
<p>It may be staffers rather than ministers themselves who are suspicious and distrustful of officials and who feel their own power and status threatened by the competition that comes from the presence of a large, diverse department. Officials need to be mindful of this, understand it for what it is and work to build trust by doing the little things well. They need to set aside concerns and fears about changes of direction; be prepared to “undo” things they may have spent years working on under a former regime. </p>
<p>The job of the public service is to serve the government of the day. If individuals find they are unable to do this, philosophically or because they object to the new government’s approach - they should go.</p>
<p>There will be understandable nervousness in Canberra, but now is the time to demonstrate the best qualities of public service: professionalism and public administration expertise, flexibility, pragmatism, proactivity and creativity. A government that harnesses that will be well served.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Tiernan has received funding support for her research from the Australian Research Council and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.</span></em></p>Commonwealth public servants will have arrived at their offices this morning feeling a mix of relief and trepidation. Relief because the disorder and uncertainty of serving a divided and besieged minority…Anne Tiernan, Associate Professor in the School of Government & International Relations, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/172622013-08-26T20:26:36Z2013-08-26T20:26:36ZFactCheck: Labor’s ‘If Abbott wins, you lose’ attack ad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does Labor's most recent attack ad pass the truth test?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Labor Party</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w-LjDPu_CLY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Labor’s new attack ad makes plenty of claims, but which ones are correct?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Election FactCheck</em> is checking key claims in political advertisements. Here we look at the “If Tony Abbott Wins, You Lose” ad from Labor.</strong></p>
<h2>Families will lose the Schoolkids Bonus</h2>
<p>The Coalition has made clear it will scrap the Schoolkids Bonus, a cash payment introduced by Labor last year that gives families receiving <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/family-tax-benefit-part-a-part-b/ftb-a-income-test">Family Tax Benefit Part A payments</a> $410 annually for each child in primary school and $820 for each high school student. </p>
<p>The Coalition has been saying it will abolish the bonus <a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/coalition-will-axe-school-kids-bonus-20130131-2dlzd.html">since January</a>. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3680691.htm">has called it</a> “a cash splash with borrowed money that has nothing to do with education” on the basis that it is paid as a straightforward cash transfer, unlike the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/federalelection2007news/rudd-vows-tax-break-to-step-up-education/2007/10/19/1192301045579.html">Education Tax Rebate it replaced</a>, where parents could only claim a tax deduction on the basis of receipted expenses. That rebate was introduced on Kevin Rudd’s first watch in 2008, following a commitment in the 2007 election campaign, during which the Coalition touted its own scheme.</p>
<p>The Coalition is promising a straightforward cut of the Schoolkids Bonus in order to save the government about $1.3 billion a year, with no direct promise of compensation for the families that will lose out. For example, the Coalition’s <a href="http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2013/08/18/tony-abbott-coalitions-paid-parental-leave-scheme">Paid Parental Leave scheme</a> will not benefit most families that currently receive the Schoolkids Bonus, in part because paid parental leave is only paid with respect to newborns, and in part because it is only paid to employed mothers while on maternity leave. A substantial proportion of families eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A (and hence the Schoolkids Bonus) are not employed.</p>
<p>On the other hand, in recent years Labor’s record on cash payments to families has not been above criticism. Since 2008, the government has introduced a number of relatively small reforms that cumulatively amount to a gradual winding back in eligibility to Family Tax Benefit Part A for middle income families. So while the Schoolkids Bonus represents a real cash boost to families, the proportion of families entitled to receive it is likely to fall over time. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, if the Coalition axes the Schoolkids Bonus, low income families in particular will be worse off than they would be under Labor.</p>
<p><strong>It is true that under a Coalition government, families will lose the SchoolKids Bonus - Gerry Redmond.</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Low-income workers will lose their increased super contributions</h2>
<p>This statement implies that the superannuation already accrued by low income workers or the rates currently in place will be reduced, which is not true. But it is true that the Coalition is intending to remove the <a href="http://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Super/In-detail/Contributions/Low-income-super-contribution/">Low Income Superannuation Contribution</a>. And there will definitely be an adverse impact on low-income earners over the long run as the Coalition proposals will reduce future superannuation contributions for low income earners by up to $775.50 per year. </p>
<p>But there is no effect on superannuation accrued to date, and the current rate of superannuation guarantee contribution will not be reduced.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/LatestNews/PressReleases/tabid/86/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9192/Budget-Reply-2013-Taking-pressure-off-households.aspx">his budget reply speech</a>, Tony Abbott announced two Coalition proposals that affect low-income earners’ superannuation.</p>
<p>First, the rate at which the mandatory superannuation guarantee contribution must be paid will not increase as quickly under the Coalition as under the government. Legislation has been passed <a href="http://www.bt.com.au/bt-market-insights/bt-latest-updates/2011/12-december/20111201-SG-increase.asp">to phase-in an increase in superannuation</a> from 9% to 12% by 2020. The current rate is 9.25%.</p>
<p>The Coalition <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/budget/abbott_delays_super_to_fund_carbon_IOSMWeNbzBjvNsuu1OmAmL">has announced a two-year pause</a> in the rate of the increase with the rate remaining at 9.25% until 30 June 2016, instead of increasing to 10% by that date. This should not be described as losing the increased contribution.</p>
<p>Second, the Low Income Superannuation Contribution will be repealed. This contribution was introduced in 2012 to reimburse up to $500 of the contributions tax paid by low-income earners on their compulsory superannuation. This could be described as losing a contribution, as it removes the entitlement to a future government contribution.</p>
<p>Both of these changes will have an adverse impact on low-income earners, as they will affect the rate at which superannuation accrues. Over the eight years from 1 July 2014 to 1 July 2020 when the superannuation guarantee contribution would reach 12% under the legislated schedule, the contributions each year paid on behalf of a person earning $37,000 would be $777.50 lower ($500 from the low-income super contribution and $277.50 as a result of the superannuation guarantee rate).</p>
<p>This reduction in contributions will have an effect on future retirement balances in the future, making lower income earners worse off.</p>
<p><strong>The statement that low-income earners will “lose their increased super contributions” is broadly true, but only in terms of future contributions - Helen Hodgson.</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Abbott will cut billions from education, including those schools who need it most</h2>
<p>Although the Coalition has not indicated how it intends maintaining the funding for the government’s <a href="http://www.betterschools.gov.au/">Better School Plan</a>, there is no indication that money will be cut, or that these cuts are targeting disadvantaged schools.</p>
<p>When contacted by <em>Election FactCheck</em>, a spokesperson for education minister Bill Shorten said the above claim alludes to Tony Abbott’s commitment to only four years of the Better Schools funding, sometimes known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/gonski-review">Gonski reforms</a>, in contrast to Labor’s six-year commitment. </p>
<p>The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations estimates that the current government will provide an additional $7.5 billion over the next six years to the five states that signed up to the Better Schools Plan. Four years of this funding only total $1.9 billion, so those last two years make a big difference.</p>
<p>Although the amount the Coalition has committed to is about $5.6 billion less than Labor’s plan (and $8.3 billion less if Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory jump on board after the election), at this stage, the Coalition has provided no official information that the party intends to cut education funding. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/29938/original/36rtbckt-1377500691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Does Labor’s most recent attack ad pass the truth test?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Labor Party</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The exact numbers are up for debate. The department’s forward estimate over six years is $11.5 billion for Better Schools if all states participate. <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2013-14/content/glossy/gonski_policy/html/gonski_overview_02.htm">The current government advertises</a> $9.8 billion over six years for Better Schools. This excludes millions more for students with disabilities, as well as funding for National Plan for School Improvement initiatives, such as developing the Australian Curriculum.</p>
<p>The Coalition’s figures are equally elusive. Abbott could be committing $1.2 billion less in the next four years with a quick sleight-of-hand, by giving Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory the Better Schools funding, without restoring <a href="http://smarterschools.gov.au/">National Partnership funding</a> (which is federal money for disadvantaged schools, teacher quality and literacy and numeracy).</p>
<p>In short, the numbers are difficult to compare, as the Coalition has not released concrete policies around Better Schools, the National Plan School for School Improvement or funding for students with special needs. But the claim “cut billions” seems a bit of an over-reaction. </p>
<p>Future funding differences are hard to predict. After all, Labor’s original Gonski review called for an additional $5 billion a year. Now, even with all states, it’s a maximum of $3.7 billion per year, and a minimum of $0.5 billion (one-tenth of the Gonski review’s recommendation). </p>
<p><strong>The statement that Abbott will “cut billions from education” cannot be substantiated - Squirrel Main.</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>12,000 people will lose their jobs</h2>
<p>The Coalition has stated among its budgetary savings a reduction of <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-do-the-liberals-have-a-secret-plan-to-axe-20-000-public-service-jobs-16032">12,000 positions in the public service</a>. It has also suggested this can be done through “natural attrition” rather than redundancies.</p>
<p>It is not yet clear whether the 12,000 reduction is in addition to the cuts <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/800-public-service-job-cuts-in-canberra-20130716-2q0vy.html">recently announced by Labor</a> or instead of them. But it’s likely these come on top of Labor’s <a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/efficiency-div-will-cost-5000-jobs-union-20130802-2r3wl.html">previously announced cuts</a> in order to help fund the Coalition’s election promises. </p>
<p>It is technically feasible to achieve a reduction of 12,000 or more jobs by natural attrition over three years. But new appointments to the Australian Public Service have been around 11,000 a year in recent years, not including transfers or promotions. The cuts through natural attrition would then affect the big “front-line” service agencies (human services, the tax office, customs etc) that the Coalition claims it would protect, and its impact would be somewhat arbitrary and hard to manage across and within agencies.</p>
<p>It would also involve stopping recruitment entirely for a considerable period, with long-term consequences for agencies and with an impact on youth employment in particular. The greatest number of newly-engaged staff are young people moving into base level graduate or similar jobs, though the numbers joining at older ages has increased over the last decade or more. Freezing recruitment would mean freezing graduate recruitment in particular.</p>
<p>Several agencies are already offering voluntary redundancies to meet the current government’s previously announced cuts, and thus a further cut of 12,000 or more is likely to require significant redundancies, whether voluntary or involuntary.</p>
<p><strong>Under a Coalition government, 12,000 jobs are set to go from the public service - Andrew Podger.</strong></p>
<p><div class="callout">The Conversation is fact checking statements made in the lead-up to this year’s federal election. Normally, these are reviewed. To allow us to publish checks on multiple claims in advertisements as soon as possible, there will be no review process. Request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerry Redmond receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Podger was Public Service Commissioner from 2002-2004 and has held other senior positions in the public service.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hodgson was a Member of the Legislative Council in Western Australia from 1997 to 2001, representing the Australian Democrats. She is not currently a member of any political party. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Squirrel Main does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Election FactCheck is checking key claims in political advertisements. Here we look at the “If Tony Abbott Wins, You Lose” ad from Labor. Families will lose the Schoolkids Bonus The Coalition has made…Gerry Redmond, Associate Professor, School of Social and Policy Studies, Flinders UniversityAndrew Podger, Professor of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityHelen Hodgson, Senior Lecturer, School of Tax and Business Law, UNSW SydneySquirrel Main, Researcher, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.