Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak this evening and in doing so to recognise the many thousands of Australians who go to work each day in the Australian Public Service. The vast majority of those workers are skilled administrators, policy makers and technocrats. They are politically neutral—and so they should be. They provide advice without fear or favour. They respect the system of Westminster governance with clear distinctions between the roles of government, parliament, the judiciary and the Public Service. They are prepared to serve successive governments equally.

Australia is one of the few countries with a Public Service Act that sets out the values and ethical standards of public service in legislation. That act, passed in 1999, was supported by both sides of the House and it is an achievement we should all be proud of. Unfortunately, I am not sure that the act is still supported by the Prime Minister and his government. I believe the evidence is clearly to the contrary. Let us just think about it for a minute: ‘children overboard’, Cornelia Rau, Vivian Alvarez Solon and the AWB scandal. In fact, the evidence suggests that the Prime Minister was determined to bring the Public Service into his political process from the beginning of his reign in March 1996. On election, without cause, he sacked six Public Service heads without declared or apparent reason, because he perceived them as being a little sympathetic to the other side of politics—the Australian Labor Party. He sought at the outset to politicise the Australian Public Service with appointments such as that of Max Moore-Wilton to the head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Over time it got worse, with the appointment, for example, of Mark Paterson as Secretary of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. So the message to the Australian Public Service was clear: ‘Do not mess with me; you are either part of me or you’ve got no future.’

Unfortunately, the pattern has continued. For example, why did the Public Service fail to tell the Prime Minister when they knew government statements on the ‘children overboard’ affair were simply false? Why was there cover-up after cover-up in the immigration department—a department that, historically, had a very good name for doing its job in a highly ethical way. And why did DFAT fail to act on the application of sanctions when it came to the AWB? I believe it is this government that expects the Public Service to take its political agenda into account and not to serve the Australian community first and foremost.

As a result, over the last few years the Public Service has been under siege, and the reputation of the vast majority of hard-working public servants has been sullied by the few who have not upheld appropriate values and ethical standards. Many of them have felt powerless, in the face of political pressure to alter advice, to stay silent or to simply do nothing lest unpalatable truths emerge. Some of them then get a little bit of courage.

Labor believes in rebuilding the Public Service and sees the restoration of its faith and courage to do the right thing by the Australian community as a top priority. I think it is very appropriate here today to remember that, despite the pressure the Public Service is under and despite the despair in many departments and agencies around Australia, there are many stories of outstanding public service and commitment.

It would therefore be inappropriate not to specifically acknowledge the ultimate sacrifices made by four public servants in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on 7 March 2007: Allison Sudradjat, Liz O’Neill, Mark Scott and Brice Steel were outstanding public servants who knew that, in the face of all danger, they would do the right thing by the Australian community. Those four Australian public servants who lost their lives in that horrendous plane crash were engaged in myriad important activities around Australia and overseas and united in one crucial regard: they were all proud to be Australian public servants and to work in Australia’s best interests. In quite different ways, and through different agencies of government, they each made a huge contribution to this nation. That had been their life—public service. And what they and tens of thousands of their colleagues have done collectively is just as significant as their individual achievements. They have acted in the common good. They were good Australian public servants serving the citizens of Australia. It is time this government stepped back from its politicisation of the Public Service. (Time expired)