Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a privilege to have been here for the member for Paterson's very eloquent and spot-on words about the Public Service and the professionalism and drive of those people who in their work seek to serve the public of Australia, which is what, obviously, the Public Service is about. Not enough is said about that incredibly important work, and not enough respect has been given to this in recent times.

I rise today to also speak in support of this Public Service Amendment Bill 2023. The bill represents an important step towards implementing the government's Australian Public Service reform agenda, which is aimed at ensuring that the APS embodies integrity, puts people and business at the centre of policy and services, is a model employer and has the capability to fulfil its responsibilities effectively. The APS reform agenda is informed by the recommendations of the 2019 report of the independent review of the APS led by David Thodey. This comprehensive review provided valuable insights into the strengths and challenges of our Public Service, and the government is committed to implementing the necessary reforms to address these issues.

I want to recognise the work of the Minister for the Public Service, Senator Gallagher, and the work that she has put into this reform agenda and this legislation. I would also like to thank the public servants who have themselves put the work in to prepare this legislation. I'm very proud to be part of a government that actually has an APS reform agenda, a government that respects the Australian Public Service. This should not be something novel, but over the last 10 years—with the absolute disregard that we saw for the Public Service and their critical role in our democracy, in the delivery of services to Australians and in providing the advice that shapes the policies that benefit the lives of all Australians and impact the lives of all Australians—it was really missing under the former government.

As the member for Canberra, around 27 per cent of my constituents are actually employed in the Australian Public Service. I am incredibly proud to represent these hardworking, dedicated people as my constituents in this place. I will always stand up for the Public Service, the important role it has, the individuals that make it up and the work that they do. As I've talked about before in this place, I saw this in my father's career in the Public Service. He really instilled in me the values of professionalism and the importance of frank and fearless advice and of the Public Service serving the government of the day and not being politicised. And I saw how incredibly hard he worked in serving the various governments that he served in his career.

I also saw this as an official at the Commonwealth Treasury, where I worked with some of the most inspiring, dedicated, intelligent people that I have ever had the privilege to work with. If there's ever any question of how hardworking the Public Service is, the process of working on budgets, which we have just recently been through, is a mammoth effort for people from a range of departments, not only—although probably in large part—the Treasury and the Department of Finance, who put incredible hours and work into that. I want to thank those public servants again for the work that they put into that and into each and every policy and piece of legislation that we deal with in this place.

I also see that dedication and professionalism in the public servants that we work with in this building every day, who enable this parliament to run, essentially enabling our democracy to function. We see the people who run the secretariats of parliamentary committees and the incredible, quality work that they put in. I want to thank the secretariats that I work with on the committees that I'm in for the incredible work that they do, giving us quality advice and bringing together a range of issues and stakeholders to participate in those committee processes. It's another really important mechanism of our democracy that couldn't run without public servants.

As the member for Paterson was saying, people join the Public Service because they do care about outcomes for Australia and the world. They care about outcomes for our environment, in health and in all the range of policy areas. They do it because they want to see improvements in those areas; that's what drives them. It should be a profession that is respected and upheld, particularly by people in this place, who see it firsthand, and ministers, who deal with the Public Service on a daily basis. So it was very disappointing to see disregard for the Public Service under the previous government. It's closely tied in with Canberra bashing. Let's not deny that that is a big part of it. It's bashing on our city and our Public Service and perpetuating myths about big government being slow to get things done, myths that it's an easy job and all of the things that we all hear too much of. It is a very important job that people do. They work very hard and deserve our utmost respect. So, as I say, I will always, as long as I am in this place, be incredibly proud to represent so many Australian Public Service employees in my electorate.

As I've said, the work of the APS is a solid foundation that we use to build the future prosperity of the nation, and it's all done by hardworking Australians who are too often unfairly maligned in this place by those opposite. We saw a prime example just a couple of weeks ago of the opposition's contempt for the Public Service in budget estimates—again, another important mechanism of our democracy, where questions can be asked of public servants about the budget. You would have thought that the opposition would have some serious questions about the budget, but we saw a range of ridiculous lines of questioning. I won't go into all of them, but one that really stood out was when a very senior public servant was criticised for not wearing a tie and was asked about that. While in one sense it's laughable, it does speak to a much deeper disrespect and disregard for the important work that these people do, the important role of the Public Service and the way that that role in itself should be respected.

For the last decade, under the previous government, we saw huge amounts of outsourcing. We saw arbitrary employment caps designed for political point scoring. We saw wage freezes. We saw speeches by the former prime minister, the member for Cook, which completely misrepresented the purpose and mission of the APS. Who can forget the Christmas social media video from the member for New England, declaring that he was sick of the government being in his life? It was an interesting comment coming from someone who had sought to be a member of parliament, given that that is the role of this place—to form governments and deliver the services, laws and policies that affect everyone each and every day. I would have thought a driving reason for most people to be here would be to see government make good policies, but then you have people saying they want the government out of their lives. This didn't stop him from forcibly relocating the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale, in his electorate.

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