Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

A value that the member for Wentworth and I share that is very deeply held is the value of consulting and listening to people and making sure that we respond to those consultations. I want to very briefly note that the consultations on this bill involved 1,500 responses, received through consultation between 24 March and 28 April. We had public servants at all levels respond. We took a really deliberate decision as a government to make sure that we didn't just get feedback from those who are often involved in the development of government policy. We reached out across the service—people at all levels within the service.

When it comes to, particularly, the consultation on the new value of stewardship that we're inserting in this bill, we wanted to talk about what that meant in practice. I was really encouraged to see some of the reports we got back around what stewardship would mean for public servants in terms of recognising that long-term obligation they have. As I've said before, our public service is an institution, and we should treat it as such.

I want to note the other actions the government has taken when it comes to those broader questions of integrity measures. The government has established the National Anti-Corruption Commission. It's been in operation for a month today and something that many people in this place should be rightly proud that they have helped bring to life. We have announced an independent review of public-sector board appointments and processes. We have established the APS Integrity Taskforce. We've had some work led by the Australian Public Service Commissioner to establish a range of measures to strengthen behaviours and outcomes-based performance management within the public sector.

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