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 Mandarin
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.
Workplace culture, management systems and recruitment processes are holding Chinese-Australians back from making meaningful contributions to China policy.
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.
Morrison said the shrinking of the number of departments was “to ensure the services that Australians rely on are delivered more efficiently and effectively”.
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”.
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”.
On the ‘creeping crisis’ in the public service
The Conversation, CC BY28,8 Mo(download)
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.
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.
Woolcott is a public servant with a career in diplomacy. While in the Turnbull office he has been on leave from his position as a deputy secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
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.
Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney; Don Scott-Kemmis, University of Technology Sydney; Goran Roos, Swinburne University of Technology et Renu Agarwal, University of Technology Sydney
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…
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…
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…
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…