Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What that move does is strengthen the language so it's clear that the onus is on ministers not to direct and that ministers have that responsibility. What this does is reaffirm the apolitical and impartial role of the APS. Currently, under the Public Service Act, it's stated that agency heads are 'not subject to' directions by ministers in regard to section 15 and various other parts of the act. By strengthening the language, the bill clarifies the duty is on the minister, creates clear limits on inappropriate involvement by ministers in APS employment matters and supports the integrity of the Public Service.

There's also an amendment that looks at introducing a requirement on agency heads to implement measures that create a work environment that allows for decisions to be made at the lowest appropriate classification. I know that there'll be work that happens in implementing this, but, under the bill, agency heads have discretion to consider what constitutes the lowest appropriate classification, taking into consideration the work level standards for classifications. The sense of this is that it seeks to ensure that decision-making is not unnecessarily raised to a higher level, so that we get improved decision-making processes and reduce duplication of work. We look forward to working through this in a practical sense with the workers within the APS.

Another amendment that's coming through with this detailed piece of legislation is around capability reviews. The proposed amendments would make regular, independent and transparent capability reviews a five-yearly requirement for each department of state, Services Australia, the Taxation Office and the Australian Public Service Commission and would also require the resulting reports and action plans to be published on the relevant agency's website.

The Thodey review noted concerns that the capability of the APS had been eroded over time. We've certainly described it as being run down by a decade of a different sense of purpose from a different government. We want to see the integrity, the strength and the capability of the APS built up. To be future fit, the APS needs to continually build its capability to create a skilled and confident workforce that can deliver modern policy and service solutions for decades to come. The proposed amendments seek to ensure the APS maintains a culture of continuous improvement to deliver for the government and the Australian community.

There's also an amendment that relates to long-term insight reports. This is about requiring the Secretaries Board to have regular, evidence based and public engagement to drive long-term insight reports, developed through a process of public consultation. The Thodey review called for the APS to strike a better balance between short-term responsiveness and investing in the deep expertise required to grapple with long-term strategy policy challenges. We've seen a lot of things outsourced to other parties over the last decade or so, and we want to see capability developed within the APS. These proposed amendments address the concerns that there might not have been genuine consultation with the Australian community, which is, in our mind, absolutely crucial for there to be good long-term planning and decision-making.

There'll also be an expanded 'outside' definition to exclude ADF members. I want to touch on this one. The amendment is going to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy by removing the requirement to seek the APS commissioner's approval to delegate powers and functions to Australian Defence Force members. At the moment ADF members are considered an outsider in the Public Service Act, and this needs to be updated to reflect the new Public Service Regulations 2023. This has practical implications, particularly in an electorate like mine where we have a big defence presence.

The last point I will go to is the amendments to the APS census results. The bill amends the Public Service Act to establish a requirement for agencies to publish APS Employee Census results, along with an action plan responding to those results. Why would we be introducing this amendment? The annual survey is used to collect information about the attitudes and opinions of APS employees. It's an opportunity for employees to share their experiences. Many agencies already publish their results but the proposed amendment aims to continue to foster a culture of transparency and accountability for that continuous improvement with agencies by making it a requirement for them to publish their aggregate census results.

Our view is these are necessary amendments to ensure we have, going forward, a strong, capable and highly respected public service.

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