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

It's really interesting the way we talk about the Public Service in this chamber. There are some quite different and diverging views. I want to put on the record, as we debate this bill, the high regard that we on this side of the chamber have for the Public Service, for the public servants whose job it is to look after so many aspects of people's lives in the way they relate to the operation of federal agencies and departments.

When I think of public servants, particularly of those who work in my electorate and live in my electorate, there's huge diversity. I think about the people in Centrelink offices, who, in Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains, have been the ones to respond and try and help people through the processes when a bushfire hits, when a storm hits and wipes out their home and has it sliding down a hill, or when floods come. These Centrelink staff are among the first that I think of, because they have had a really challenging few years, particularly in our electorate. I also think of the team of people who administer and try and support people through the National Disability Insurance Scheme process.

Now, we know that the processes are not always as simple as they could be and the public servants who work on them face challenges but are working so hard to try to make it accessible. I see that particularly around the NDIS. I also think about it when there are Medicare or My Aged Care issues and people go seek help. All the people who are trying to help my constituents—in fact, many of them are my constituents working in these offices, working in their local community, serving their local community—are public servants. We also have a huge range of people who work in our Defence Forces—civilian workers around the Richmond RAAF base, around Glenbrook RAAF base and living scattered throughout the electorate of Macquarie. This is not to mention those who are being helped by workers at the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

I think about the tax office and the myriad public servants that we are privileged to have living in the electorate of Macquarie, and I take my hat off to the work they do. I also say to the union that supports them, the CPSU, that the work they do elevates the issues, brings to light the things that are not working and makes systems better for their workers and also for the wider community. That's why I am very pleased to be speaking in support of the Public Service Amendment Bill 2023, which will amend the Public Service Act 1999 to deliver enduring, transformational change and to ensure that the Australian Public Service is well placed to serve the Australian government, the parliament and, very importantly, the Australian public into the future.

To strengthen the Australian Public Service's core purpose and values, the bill will do a number of things, and I will talk about each of those. Actually, I am going to step back for one moment to think about why we've actually gone down this path, because many of the proposed amendments in here were recommendations of the 2019 independent review of the Australian Public Service—that's the Thodey review—or go to the intent of that review and haven't been acted on previously. There are other amendments that have been drawn from observations about public administration from governments at a state level or even overseas, and of course they've been informed by engagement within and beyond the APS. That includes with APS employees, the CPSU, agency heads, experts and interested parties, including input from the general public. I think it's important to know that this has been done based on a lot of information and a lot of feedback and engagement.

In terms of the areas that the bill will strengthen, the first is the APS value of stewardship. The proposed amendment will add a new APS value of stewardship alongside the existing APS Values, which public servants will be required to uphold at all times. There are currently five existing APS Values: being committed to service, ethical, respectful, accountable and impartial—all the things we would expect when engaging with those who work in the Public Service. The proposed amendment adds the following supporting statement to clarify the meaning of the new APS value of stewardship:

The APS builds its capability and institutional knowledge, and supports the public interest now and into the future, by understanding the long-term impacts of what it does.

The APS Values are designed to provide a philosophical underpinning for the APS; to reflect public expectation of the relationship between public servants and the government, the parliament and the community; and articulate the culture and operating ethos of the APS. Under the Public Service Act, secretaries, the APS Commissioner and the Secretaries Board are required to act as stewards of their department and in partnership of the APS. The Thodey review found that legislating stewardship would give it broader application to guide the enduring role of the Australian Public Service. Enshrining stewardship ensures that APS employees are able to see how their individual behaviours contribute to the stewardship of the APS. I know that this part of the bill is welcomed by the CPSU, which points out that, as a knowledge based institution, the Public Service's most valuable asset is its people, and it's right that that's a consideration for any government or agency heads going forward.

The second change that is being proposed in this bill is to require the secretaries to oversee the development of a single unifying APS purpose statement and review it at once every five years. All agency heads will be required to uphold and promote this purpose statement. The purpose statement helps to unify the service behind a common vision, representing and influenced by the contemporary, diverse and innovative APS and community. The requirement to review it every five years ensures that it stays contemporary, up to date and responsive to the changing views and expectations of government and community. This is another one of the sections of this bill that is highly supported by the CPSU, who particularly support the involvement of employees in the development of a purpose statement. The work on the first one is underway now. When you think about APS employees being the face of the public sector and having broad experience and expertise in providing services to the community, it is really beneficial that their voices, experience and contribution are recognised and heard through the purpose statement.

The next section of the bill I want to talk about is around ministerial directions on APS employment matters. The amendment that we're proposing here omits the previous wording, 'An agency head is not subject to direction by any minister', and it substitutes for it, 'A minister must not direct an agency head.' Under the proposed amendment to section 19, the clause is being redrafted from the passive voice to the active voice. I've spent a lot of my life as a journalist and then, in my own business, thinking about language and the power that it has, and people like me will appreciate that shift from passive to active says a lot. I can see my colleague across the way, the member for Fisher, has his head stuck in a book, thinking about these very issues.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Statutory interpretation—I don't go to bed without it!

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise in support of the Public Service Amendment Bill 2023, which will amend the previous act of 1999. The Albanese government is delivering accountability and integrity in our institutions by taking the next steps in rebuilding the Australian Public Service. This bill is all about restoring the public's trust and faith in government as well as the multitude of government services the APS provides. It is an important part of the Albanese government's broader APS reform agenda, which is reinvesting in and valuing what is the APS's most valuable resource—its people.

Many of the proposed amendments implement the independent recommendations of the Thodey review, which was largely sidelined under the previous government. In late 2019 the Thodey review found the APS was in desperate need of a service-wide transformation, enshrining both short-term change and long-term reform to achieve better outcomes for the Australian public. The independent review involved extensive public consultation, including engagement with more than 11,000 individuals and organisations working in the APS over more than 400 meetings, workshops and information sessions. With this bill, the Albanese government is putting the people who use our services front and centre because accessibility of government services should reflect the diverse group of people that use them.

The Public Service Amendment Bill 2023 will strengthen the APS's core purpose and values to create an APS with the capability and integrity to do its job well. It will build the capability of the APS and support good governance, accountability and transparency. The bills four key pillars reflect our government's vision for an APS that best serves Australians. We want a truly independent APS that is empowered to embody integrity in everything it does. We want an APS that puts people and business at the core of its daily operations. We want an APS that is a model employer for the over 150,000 strong workforce that serves as its backbone. And we want an APS that is supported by our government and future governments to have the capability to do its job to the highest standard. The Albanese Labor government is acting on this vision with the introduction of this bill, which I am proud to support.

First, I wish to reinforce how the bill lays the foundations for stronger integrity in the APS. To uphold integrity in the APS, the bill will ensure an independent public service which supports transparency and good governance. The bill will make it clear that ministers cannot direct agency heads on employment matters. It will require agency heads to implement measures which enable employees at the lowest appropriate classification to make appropriate decisions. This way, decision-making is not delegated to a higher level than is necessary, and this will reduce the unnecessary hierarchy in the APS and empower employees to act with integrity.

The bill makes it necessary for agencies' APS employee's census results to be published, creating a publicly accessible blueprint for action that responds to results. This greater transparency will foster a culture of honesty and accountability, supporting continuous employment within the agencies to meet their goals for the Australian people. Our APS must be empowered to be honest and truly independent and to remain true to due process. That is why this bill is being introduced, to ensure that, as the minister says, the APS is ready to deliver advice that the government of the day may not want to hear just as loudly as the advice that we do want to hear.

These structural changes to the APS are supplemented by an important cultural shift ushered in by the introduction of the bill. Predominantly, this involves the introduction of a new core value of stewardship that all employees must uphold. Stewardship means the APS is committed to supporting the public interest now and into the future by understanding the long-term implications of what it does. It is an ethical value, involving the responsible planning and management of services to respond to the needs of all Australians who rely on them. This reflects recommendation 5 of the Thodey review, which called for the core principles of the APS values to be strengthened, highlighting a need to reaffirm the important and enduring role that all of our valued APS employees play in serving successive governments, the parliament and the broader Australian public.

The Public Service builds on a wealth of knowledge and human capital created through years of experience, and it is important that the values of the APS are dictated only by those within it, not by the comparatively fleeting governments which it serves. That is why the bill will also require the Secretaries Board to oversee the development of a single, unifying APS purpose statement, encouraging the Public Service to think critically about its values. Once a unifying purpose is chosen, the statement will be mandatorily reviewed every five years to ensure it is meaningfully adopted. This implements recommendation 6 of the Thodey review: developing and embedding an inspiring purpose to unite the APS in serving the nation as a unified front. All agency heads will therefore be required to uphold and promote the new APS purpose statement in addition to the existing APS Values and Employment Principles. This will ensure the values of the APS more accurately represent the values of its employees and the role of the Public Service in modern Australia.

Again, the act will make it clear that ministers cannot direct agency heads on individual APS staffing decisions, including the implementation of this unifying purpose. This will affirm the APS's rightly apolitical nature, ensuring we give it the support needed to remain fiercely independent and free from government bias in its advice.

This bill puts people and business at the centre of the services delivered to them. Our government is working with the heads of the APS on a vision for partnership between the Public Service and the people it serves. This includes close engagement and co-design with communities, businesses, the not-for-profit sector, universities, states, territories and others. Crucially, this vision will include a Charter of Partnerships and Engagement which makes a promise about working to ensure the Public Service is a trusted partner which the community can rely upon to put their needs at the centre of policy implementation and delivery.

This links to how the bill will work for the people at the centre of the APS—its employees. The government is working to deliver a renewed APS which is an equitable, model employer, with ample opportunity for promotion and development. I reaffirm what the minister said: the greatest resource of the APS is its people. If we want the Public Service to focus on the needs of the Australian people, we have to focus on the people who will be delivering those needs. We need to co-design the way the APS runs in consultation with those that run it. What is their experience of working with the public? Are we attracting and retaining Australia's brightest? If the answer is no, then we need to find out what can be done to foster a better culture of inclusion and professional development.

As I previously mentioned, encouraging decision-making to occur at all levels of APS employment will help shape workplaces that empower staff and create opportunities for professional development. The reforms will help make this opportunity available to all Australians looking for work within the APS. As the minister mentioned in her second reading speech, while there have been many hard-fought gains in the APS, including that the proportion of women in senior APS executive roles is now 52 per cent, there is more work to be done. Transparency breeds accountability, and that's why the bill will require the APS to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, so it can be a leader in driving ambition on gender equality.

Employment of people with disabilities has reduced in the last 30 years, and the introduction of this bill is also aimed at setting the stage for greater workplace inclusivity and equal opportunity, to attract and retain a more diverse workforce.

Representation of First Nations people in the APS is currently 3.5 per cent. We know it can and should be better. That is why it is this government's policy to hold the APS to meet its ambitious target of increasing First Nations employment to five per cent, in line with its commitment to elevating First Nations voices to parliament.

We also promise to deliver on the government's commitment to reduce reliance on consultants, creating opportunities to work across departments for a unified vision of the APS. The bill supports the development of an in-house consulting model for the APS, to strengthen functions that have previously been contracted out, providing more opportunities for public servants to upskill, collaborate with colleagues and challenge themselves in new roles, to retain more of the workforce.

Finally, I want to point out how this bill seeks to build a robust APS, with the capability of doing its job well. The APS Academy is a hub of learning and development excellence which is already boosting service capability. Around 20,000 staff have been through its doors to date. The government is also introducing the APS Workforce Strategy 2025, as well as the APS Learning and Development Strategy, to review the capability of the APS over the next few years.

Accompanying this careful monitoring is our commitment to reinstituting independent capability reviews. This amendment acts on the concerns of the Thodey review that the capabilities of the APS have been eroded over time. It seeks to establish a future-fit APS, with a culture of continuous improvement, by making regular independent and transparent capability reviews a five-yearly requirement. With this requirement, the Albanese government is investing in the long-term capability of the APS. It is investing in a skilled, confident, competent workforce which will deliver modern policy and service solutions where they're needed most. Capability reviews and their associated action plans are a crucial opportunity for reflection and future oriented development. They've already been adopted in public sectors in many international jurisdictions, including the UK, New Zealand and Canada. Knowing where we are at and being able to anticipate future challenges keeps our Public Service agile and adaptive to the changing needs of Australians as we head towards 2025.

All sorts of Australians interact on a daily basis with their Public Service, whether it's a teenager seeking their first tax file number for their first job or a pensioner seeking a Medicare rebate. There is no reason why we should not ensure the running of these services is done independently, efficiently and clearly for all Australians, and that is what the heart of this bill goes to. With this bill we are creating lasting reforms to ensure the integrity, efficiency and excellence of the APS. We are creating reforms which finally address independent advice from the Thodey review, reforms that are long overdue, reforms that cannot be rolled back to meet the needs of future governments without being driven by the public, those who the APS is designed to serve.

I am so proud to be a part of a government which is creating opportunities for innovation in the APS through legislated review and strategic future focused action. I'm proud that our government is standing up to ensure the APS is a leading workplace that attracts and retains some of Australia's finest and brightest. And I am proud that we are looking, with this bill, to make the APS a more inclusive and equitable place to work as well as a smoother service to interact with for Australians.

A large number of the constituent inquiries we get through my electorate office in Boothby relate to various functions of the Public Service, because that's, after all, where my electorate members should be going when they have challenges. A number of those inquiries relate to wait times and labour hire contracts where people are turned over—'There's a loss of the memory of what I said last time when I phoned up.' People are frustrated. I think these reforms are something that the Australian public are really going to appreciate as they roll out, as we have an APS that is more highly able to respond to the needs of individuals as they contact them but also the Australian public as a whole. I commend the bill to the House.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Public Service Amendment Bill 2023, which will amend the Public Service Act 1989 to deliver enduring transformational change and ensure the Public Service is well-placed to serve the Australian government, the parliament and the Australian public into the future. This bill and the Albanese government's border APS reform agenda are about restoring the public's trust and faith in government institutions. The Public Service Amendment Bill 2023 will strengthen the APS's core purpose and values, build the capability and expertise of the APS and support good governance, accountability and transparency.

Our APS and APS employees are absolutely vital to my communities in Gilmore and, of course, so important right across our country, whether it is APS that work at our defence bases at HMAS Albatross and HMAS Creswell; or at Services Australia across multiple locations at Batemans Bay, Ulladulla and Nowra; and, of course, at Health, Veterans' Affairs, Indigenous Affairs and more.

I am proud to say that for a number of years I was an APS employee based at HMAS Albatross and had the privilege of working with my fellow APS employees as well as Navy, Army and Air Force members and contractors on incoming and outgoing helicopter types for Navy. It was a great experience and something that firmly showed me the importance of the APS and also the highly important relationship between our APS employees and Defence for defence capability.

I'm pleased that this bill will add a new APS value of stewardship, require an APS purpose statement, make it clear that ministers cannot direct agency heads on employment matters, encourage decision-making at the lowest appropriate level, make regular capability reviews a requirement, require annual APS employee census results to be published along with an action plan responding to the results and establish at least one long-term insight briefing each year. It's important to note that many of the proposed changes align with recommendations from the 2019 Thodey review. That independent review of the APS, led by Mr David Thodey, concluded that the APS lacked a unified purpose, was too internally focused and had lost capability in important areas. The Thodey review called for a Public Service that is trusted, future fit, responsive and agile to meet the changing needs of government and the community with professionalism and integrity.

The bill delivers on several important recommendations of the Thodey review, recognising that the case for reform has only strengthened in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, geopolitical disruptions and increasing economic volatility have all highlighted the importance of an APS that acts with agility and common purpose. And don't we know that on the New South Wales South Coast? The Black Summer bushfires taunted my communities for months on end. Lives, livelihoods and homes were lost. But through it all APS staff at Services Australia went above and beyond to support people, even when they themselves or their family members and friends were severely impacted.

Of course, it didn't stop with the Black Summer bushfires. My electorate in Gilmore really knows natural disasters. After the bushfires—actually during the bushfires—some communities in my electorate faced floods and storms. It is almost unthinkable that so much destruction could occur at once. People were still traumatised by the bushfires, and here they were being retraumatised by floods and storms. And then came COVID-19. A perfect storm of natural disasters having a devastating impact on everyone.

You cannot not be impacted by all of these disasters, but through it all APS staff at Services Australia were there, answering phone calls in massive volumes, connecting and ensuring that people received the help they needed. Sometimes I think it can be a thankless job, but it is so important. We should be proud of all our APS workers from all departments that do so much to support people.

Constituents in my electorate felt that dearly when, yes, they couldn't get their passports. It possibly seems a simple thing, but this had a massive impact on people in Gilmore. My office was inundated with distressed people and parents about to travel who did not yet have their children's passports when they were just days away from leaving the country. It was this government that brought in more staff to ensure we'd get through the passport and massive visa backlog. Similarly, on coming to government we found veterans' claims were also taking far too long to process. This is something that I heard about regularly from my local RSL subbranch advocates. One of the first things we did was boost the APS to ensure greater support to get through claims.

I am incredibly proud of all our local APS workers and our APS that supports our communities. The experience of recent years has also highlighted the enduring importance of the existing APS values: to be impartial, committed to service, accountable, respectful and ethical. I really think we have seen that enduring impartial commitment over this government's decision to implement our cheaper medicines policy from 1 September. I note that this was recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefit Advisory Committee first in 2018, but I know that APS workers in the Department of Health have shown genuine commitment and impartiality to help in making medicines cheaper for people. This includes staying focused to implement 60-day dispensing. Importantly, I also know they are committed to listening to concerns and ensuring that every dollar saved goes back into community pharmacy.

We need to support our APS workers more. We need to always encourage the modelling of good values and integrity. The APS needs to be honest, truly independent and empowered to provide frank and fearless advice and to defend legality and due process. The APS needs to listen to and engage with the Australian community, developing policy and delivering services with empathy and in a spirit of partnership. We should expect greater transparency about the state of the service and its ability to deliver. That helps build good trust in government. We want the APS to be confident and capable, acting with a clear purpose, demonstrating through leadership, and taking a long-term view of the implications of each decision and action. Reform of such a large and complex organisation takes time and sustained effort. That's why we need reforms that stick, reforms that last. For these reasons the Albanese government is introducing these amendments to the Public Service Act to embed reform in the legislation that guides and governs the Public Service. This bill aims to strengthen the core purpose and values of the APS. The APS is a complex organisation, comprising tens of thousands of dedicated individuals working across numerous departments and agencies. It is essential to foster a shared understanding of the APS's role and promote a unified approach. The amendments in this bill address this by reinforcing integrity as a guiding principle for the APS in everything it does.

One of the significant additions in this bill is the inclusion of a new APS value of stewardship. This addition was developed through extensive consultation with APS staff across the country. This value emphasises the importance of building capability and institutional knowledge. and supporting the public interest for both present and future generations. Stewardship is deeply rooted in Australia's history, as First Nations Australians have long served as the original stewards of this land. By requiring all APS employees to uphold stewardship, this bill strengthens their crucial role as stewards of our nation.

I want to take a moment to thank APS employees, defence and contractors for the way they work together to provide great stewardship of our lands and waters. I have seen this in action many times at both HMAS Albatross and HMAS Creswell where the APS and defence members interact seamlessly. This also really benefits our communities.

This bill will seek to create a unifying purpose statement for the APS. This is so important because we need to work together towards a common goal. This purpose statement will serve as a common foundation for collaborative leadership, aligned services and shared delivery across all departments and agencies. It will provide tens of thousands of APS employees with a shared sense of purpose and reinforce a unified approach in serving the community. But it won't just be a static statement; this purpose statement will be periodically refreshed to adapt to the evolving role of the APS over time, because the nation's goals will shift over time and it will be important for us to continually reassess what our direction as a nation should be.

The previous government hollowed out the Public Service and took away their power to make decisions. They took the creativity away from the public sector, forced them to bend to the will of ministers even when it was against the department's best advice. We're not going to do that. The Albanese Labor government respects the work of the Public Service. That's why, to safeguard the impartiality of the APS, it is vital to limit ministerial directions on individual APS staffing decisions. The first APS value emphasises the need for an impartial Public Service, and this bill strengthens the provision in the Public Service Act to ensure ministers cannot interfere in such matters. This reaffirms the apolitical nature of the APS and empowers agency heads to act with integrity and maintain public trust.

Building capability and expertise through leadership of the APS is another critical aspect addressed in this bill. The APS must continuously assess its strengths and weaknesses, engage with the Australian public, and work in genuine partnership to solve problems and design solutions that benefit our country. By embedding ongoing measures to enhance capability, this bill ensures the APS remains future fit. We need an agile public sector that is equipped to tackle the challenges facing Australia and deliver modern policy and service solutions. To ensure that the Public Service stays agile, we will ensure that there are regular independent and transparent capability reviews. These will be essential for assessing the strengths and areas of development within each department of state, Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office. These reviews, conducted every five years, will contribute to a culture of continuous improvement within the APS and enable a better understanding of the agencies' operating environment, both present and future. In line with the Thodey review's recommendations, this bill introduces long-term insight reports commissioned by the Secretaries Board. These evidence based reports developed through public consultation will explore medium-term and long-term trends, risks and opportunities that Australia faces. By engaging with academics, experts and the broader community, the APS can strengthen its expertise and understanding of cross-cutting issues that impact all Australians. Importantly, this bill addresses the need for good governance, accountability and transparency within the APS.

Unlike the previous government, the Albanese Labor government doesn't want to have secret deals that go on behind closed doors. We want to make sure that there is never another robodebt scandal. One of the ways this bill will achieve this is by publishing annual APS employee census results. Public sector agencies will be encouraged to foster a culture of transparency and continuous improvement. This bill will help to provide employees with a voice, ensuring their thoughts, concerns and ideas are not only heard but also acted upon. Additionally, enabling APS employees to make decisions at the lowest appropriate classification level will reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, promote professional development and create a culture of trust and support.

It is undeniable that Australia is faced with immense challenges in the coming decade, but I am confident that the Australian Public Service will rise to the occasion. Our valuable public sector will play a vital role in meeting the evolving needs of government. The Thodey review has presented us with a crucial blueprint for the continuous transformation of the public sector, ensuring its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and demands, and the Albanese government is responding with great ambition through the APS reform agenda. With the introduction of this bill and the necessary amendments to the Public Service Act, we are taking important action to strengthen the public's trust and confidence in our government and one of its most significant institutions, the Australian Public Service. I thank all our tireless APS workers in Gilmore and our APS for supporting people in my communities and across our nation. Together let us forge ahead, embracing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as we work towards a future where the APS continues to be a pillar of excellence, responsiveness and public service for the betterment of our nation and its people. I commend this bill to the House.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every day, millions of us rely on the Australian Public Service up here in Canberra. It can be the small things, like a teenager applying for a tax file number, a new parent getting their first parental leave payment or a small business owner accessing natural disaster relief after a devastating bushfire that put their livelihoods and those of their employees on the line. When our Public Service is at its best, it is an effective and meaningful tool to advance our national interests, but too often it was kneecapped under the previous Liberal government. We're here today to get on with fixing that. The decisions made by our Public Service, whether they be policy development, service delivery or any one of the other functions that they perform, leave an imprint on everything that we do. It's simply too important for us not to get it right.

We should be glad that as a country we have a public service that is dedicated to working tirelessly on behalf of the Australian public. They are so often selfless, working in pursuit of a shared purpose and, indeed, our shared values. They don't do it for the money or the status; they're in it for the greater good. People join the APS because they have a drive for progress, whether it's in social welfare, international relations, infrastructure and transport, or so many other areas. They are renowned for their frank and fearless advice. Our Public Service has already helped deliver two budgets during the first year of the Albanese government. They have contributed immensely through assisting in the development of our cost-of-living plan, pushing forward the housing agenda to get more roofs over peoples' heads, making it easier and cheaper to see a bulk-billed doctor and implementing our cheaper childcare plan, amongst so many other examples.

They do so much for us, they work hard to deliver good outcomes, and these workers deserve our respect. But they need to be armed with the right skills and be empowered by the government of the day to do their jobs to the standard that our community expects. That's what this is all about—helping our Public Service to keep helping Australians. This legislation forms part of the Albanese government's commitment to rebuild the Australian Public Service. That's why I'm speaking in support of this bill today, because it's something that we need to get on with urgently. It's imperative that we enshrine greater transparency and accountability in our system of government. Trust in politics and the Public Service forms the bedrock of our institutions. When there's a breakdown in that trust, we all suffer.

If the last decade under the previous Liberal government showed us anything, it showed us what can happen when a lack of trust festers and dishonesty is left to run rampant. It doesn't take long to find the egregious examples from the former government, whether it's sports rorts, regional rorts, airport rorts or water rorts. And who could forget car park rorts? A few colour-coded spreadsheets later, and we saw public trust in government totally eroded. The final nail in the coffin came when the post-mortem analysis was in full swing, with the revelation that the former Prime Minister secretly appointed himself to several ministries without notifying his cabinet, other ministers or the Australian people. The lack of transparency and accountability experienced under the previous government leaves a shameful shadow over the last decade. It lingers over all of the decisions made during that time, hanging on like a bad smell. Not only that, but throughout the preceding decades it was always the Liberals who constantly and continually diminished the role of the Public Service. They disrespected their skills, experience and expertise, all for the posturing pursuit of a fictional few dollars on their budget bottom line.

This clearly came at the expense of good governance and a strong Public Service, as has been exposed to within an inch of its life in the media over the last decade. Those opposite had to learn those skills somewhere. The Howard government treated cost-cutting like a competitive sport, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Privatisation and lay-offs were too common, and they left our Public Service in worse shape than ever. During Howard's reign, he oversaw the loss of about 30,000 Public Service jobs—a national shame. This carried on under the previous Liberal government, who in their 2015-16 budget brought in changes to the public sector workforce, including the average staffing level cap. This arbitrary and damaging workforce cap was implemented to maintain employment numbers at 2006-07 levels. This of course forced the previous Liberal government to outsource to labour hire firms at record levels to deliver the core business of the Australian Public Service.

We're getting on with cleaning up the mess that they left behind, with budget forecasts showing we're on track to increase the workforce by more than 10,000 people across 2023-24. Just prior to the last election, in May 2022, they once again tried to pull a similar trick—announcing their election commitments would be miraculously funded through further cuts to the Public Service. This came in the wake of all of the rorts and controversies that they were at that stage so well known for. That's because, when cutting is all you know how to do—

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Page is seeking the call.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, I ask that the speaker remain relevant to the bill. There is some scope to talk about previous governments. He hasn't actually spoken about anything to do with the bill. He is just going on a rampage, even as far back as Howard. It's a joke.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Page. This is a wideranging bill. We've had this issue arise before. The member is relevant and will continue, with his focus on the bill.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, when cutting is all you know how to do, the most vulnerable in our community are left behind, and the rest of our country is taken for a ride.

It's clear that we can't function properly if we're all too busy pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. That's why we need a strong Public Service that works on behalf of the Australian people. Whether it's the frontline staff of Services Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the Australian Taxation Office, the department of immigration, the Australian Passport Office or so many other organisations, the Public Service is often on the front line, at the coalface of government decisions. Whether it's those working in our departments, developing and progressing effective policy and advising government—fundamental to the functioning of our government is transparency in its processes. That remains as important a factor today as it has always been.

Most of the amendments in this bill were recommendations that came out of the 2019 Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, the Thodey review, or speak to its intent. The Thodey review was made necessary thanks to the continue desecration of the Public Service over that wasted decade under the previous Liberal government. It was given the task of delivering an ambitious range of recommendations designed to ensure that the APS is fit for purpose for the coming decades as well as to guide and accelerate future reform activities. At its conclusion, the review handed down 40 recommendations. Chief amongst them was the need to build the capability of the APS for the future. The proposed changes were also informed by consultation with employees, representative groups, agencies, experts, the public and the Community and Public Sector Union.

This bill delivers on our promise to clean up the Public Service in a few very important ways. It seeks to:

… strengthen the APS' core purpose and values; build the capability and expertise of the APS; and support good governance, accountability and transparency.

In doing so, this bill will add a new APS value of stewardship. There are currently five existing APS values: committed to service, ethical, respectful, accountable and impartial. In incorporating the new value of stewardship, the bill includes the following statement in support of this change:

… the APS builds its capability and institutional knowledge, and supports the public interest now and into the future, by understanding the long-term impacts of what it does.

The key to future success in the APS looks like the transfer of knowledge and experience amongst the vast and highly qualified workforce, because only by working together can the Public Service achieve the best outcomes for Australians. The addition of stewardship to the core values of the APS helps to articulate the shared ethos this government is aiming to achieve through rebuilding the Public Service and its functions. What's more, the bill adds the requirement for the development of an APS purpose statement, to clearly outline the vision of what the APS collectively strives to work towards. This would be reviewed every five years, in consultation with staff and the public, to hold the APS accountable to itself through developing a shared purpose.

This bill also strengthens the protections that agency heads enjoy, by making it clear that ministers cannot direct agency heads on employment matters. The APS is proudly apolitical and impartial, and it's important that this is strengthened to ensure that at its heart it cultivates greater public trust, free from political interference. We saw too many 'jobs for mates' controversies from those opposite, in the dying days of the former Liberal government, so by stamping this out we send a message that this isn't accepted or acceptable.

The bill also seeks to encourage decision-making at the lowest appropriate level, enabling a work environment that values decision-making and capability-building at all levels. This will help streamline and improve processes, while letting the next generation take the lead on issues that are important to them in the workplace. It will free up efficiencies in the processes our APS uses, enabling greater reliance on each other and tearing down silos that can frustrate good work and great outcomes.

An important amendment is the requirement for regular, independent and transparent capability reviews every five years for each department of state, Services Australia, the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Public Service Commission. Helping to improve organisational capability and identify opportunities, this will mean that agencies will be best placed to continue delivering for Australians. This will help build on the long-term capability of the APS, fostering continuous improvement amongst the workforce.

This will be coupled with a proposed amendment that will establish regular, long-term insights reports, developed through a process of public consultation. The need for long-term thinking is clear. These regular reports will be developed annually, helping departments and agencies to continually evaluate their goals and interests for the future. It's important that this is done, factoring in public engagement and consultation. As we all know, genuine consultation on these issues is the only way we can address concerns on issues affecting Australia and our society.

Another amendment is to expand the definition of an 'outsider' for the purposes of including Australian Defence Force members in the APS. Currently, ADF members are considered outsiders in legislation, meaning that agency heads cannot delegate powers or functions to them without the consent of the commissioner. This red tape gets in the way of the proper functioning of the APS, delivering more bureaucracy where it is not needed. This bill seeks to change that, to make sure that our ADF can continue to work in the best interests of all Australians whenever and wherever they are needed.

Building on our knowledge base of how the APS workforce views themselves and their jobs is one of the main ways to measure success as we continue to rebuild our Public Service. One way we will do this is through publishing the APS employee census results along with an action plan responding to those results. The APS employee census is a survey which collects information about the attitudes and opinions of APS employees, listening to the workers themselves. Being able to analyse, respond and act on that data will leave us better off, and having visibility of the actions taken will help to drive up accountability and transparency.

Many of the proposed changes align with recommendations from the 2019 Thodey review into the Australian Public Service. These changes were released for public consultation on the key amendments proposed in this bill in May this year to ensure they were informed by the views and values of our community more broadly.

By working hard to develop these meaningful amendments, this bill will go a long way to providing greater integrity and transparency in our APS. It will enshrine stewardship as a key value, develop a shared purpose for the APS, better protect agency heads from undue influence and ensure decision-making functions are shared amongst all levels of the APS wherever appropriate. It does these things and so much more, because our Public Service is worth cultivating and investing in for the good of our community.

When we have the best people, they deliver the best work. It just makes sense. Having a forward-thinking team focused on the issues at hand as well as those of the future is integral to furthering our national interest. We are very fortunate to be able rely on some of the best up here, with a Public Service that is dedicated, talented and ready to do the necessary hard work when asked.

It is for those hard-working public servants that the Albanese government is delivering on its promise to restore and rebuild our Public Service. It is also for the Australian people that we make these changes. They deserve to have an APS that best achieves the outcomes that make our lives better and easier.

We can't take a strong and trusted Public Service for granted. Our democracy relies on it, and we have seen the risks the Liberals pose to it. It is for all of these reasons amongst others that I commend the bill to the House.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to speak on the Public Service Amendment Bill 2023, and join with so many of my colleagues on this side of the chamber, who have spent considerable time talking about the value of the Public Service and talking about how we understand the very direct role the Public Service plays in all our communities, at Centrelink, at the NDIS, in helping people sort their tax problems, those day-to-day touch points that people across the breadth of this country rely on, as well as the very important work that the Public Service does in policy development and implementation that helps the work that we do in this parliament actually go out into our country.

What I have also heard from listening to my colleagues here and what I have observed during my time in this place is just how unusual it is actually to have these speeches being made in this place because certainly for the previous decade under those opposite the Public Service was not valued. It was not seen as a vital part of our nation's infrastructure, as the part that makes sure that the work we do in here gets translated and taken out and has a positive impact on people's lives. What those opposite did, in fact, was run down the Public Service, made it a very difficult place to work. It made it very difficult for people who are dedicated to making this country a better place to actually do their work.

I actually have the privilege of having tried to do that work myself. I am in fact a former public servant at both a Commonwealth and state level, so I have had the privilege of working with some very dedicated people who do every day seek to make this a better country for all of us. I have also seen the challenges and the very real stresses that those people work under. Indeed, I worked at the NDIA when the former government imposed a staffing cap, a very real staffing cap, on that agency. That posed a massive impost on the NDIA, the agency tasked with supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community, supporting people with disability to lead the lives they should. They put a staffing cap on it, and of course that led to immense strain on the people in the NDIA, who were trying to do work that should have been spread amongst so many others, who were trying to do work that should mean people with disability, their families and their carers are all able to lead the best life possible. It was very hard for people to do that work with that unreasonable and unjustified staffing cap in place. I am very pleased our government has recognised that that was unreasonable, that that was not in fact leading to better outcomes, and we have removed that staffing cap.

More broadly, I also, during my time in the Public Service, observed that when governments don't trust the Public Service, when governments don't turn to the Public Service for advice, when governments have a trend of going outside the Public Service for advice—and we've seen recently how often that seemed to have been happening; the big four consulting firms and other consulting firms were the places the previous government was turning to for advice—the Public Service feels devalued. That impacts on morale and capability, and impacts on young people when they are thinking, 'When I graduate, do I want to go work for KPMG or for the Public Service?' We want the best and brightest to say, 'I want to go and work for the Public Service because I can see a long-term future there, where I help to build our country.' Unfortunately, under the previous government, we too often saw young people looking at the reality of where work was going and thinking, 'I want to go and work at KPMG or one of these businesses that seems to be doing this work that should sit with the Public Service.' For all these reasons, I think it is very important that we are in this place noting the value of the Public Service and also talking about this bill, which is our government's commitment to the Public Service and our government's commitment to rebuild the Public Service, to make sure that we are putting together a public service that is fit for purpose and that allows those very capable, very dedicated people who are part of the Public Service to do their work knowing they have a government that backs them in and knowing they have the structures around them that will allow them to do the vital work they do.

This bill and our broader APS reform agenda are about restoring the public's trust and faith in the Public Service, in government and in its institutions. The bill will strengthen the APS's core purpose and values, build the capability and the expertise of the APS, and support good governance, accountability and transparency—all things we definitely lacked in the last decade coming out of this place but which I think the Australian people will be very pleased to see coming back. They are values that are important for the Public Service both now and into the future, and they make a real difference. They actually have an impact on how Australians experience government services and how their lives are conducted.

This bill adds a new APS value, of stewardship. It requires an APS purpose statement. It makes it clear that ministers cannot direct agency heads on employment matters. It encourages decision-making at the lowest appropriate level. It makes regular capability reviews a requirement. It requires annual APS Employee Census results to be published, along with an action plan responding to the results. And it establishes at least one long-term insight briefing each year.

These measures that are in the bill were not dreamed up out of the blue; they are in fact a result of recommendations from the 2019 Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, otherwise known as the Thodey review. They've also drawn on the observations and work of people both at a Commonwealth and at a state level, as well as best practice from public services overseas—so we've drawn on the evidence to put together the measures in this bill.

If we think about what David Thodey said about his review and the intent of that review, I very much agree with what he said:

It comes back to what is the role, purpose and values of that organisation. That gave us a bigger view of what change was required to enable this incredibly diverse and complex organisation to respond to a future we aren't sure of. You definitely still need structure and frameworks about how the organisation works. But at the end of the day you need to create an organisation that is able to adapt and change and respond. If you can get that right, then you can face any challenge going forward.

If you think about the operating environment for our country, for our government, for our community, that is absolutely where we are at the moment, and we do need a Public Service that is built on all of that—that is able to face challenges, adapt and respond to get the best that we need for our country.

These proposed changes, of course, have also been informed by engagement within and beyond the APS—APS employees, the CPSU, agency heads, experts and interested parties, including members of the public. As I said, there are a number of measures in the bill, and I will go to some of those now. The bill includes the APS value of stewardship. There are currently five existing APS values: committed to service; ethical; respectful; accountable; and impartial. The amendment proposed in this bill adds the following supporting statement to clarify the meaning of the new APS value of stewardship:

The APS builds its capability and institutional knowledge, and supports the public interest now and into the future, by understanding the long-term impacts of what it does.

This moves us beyond this short-term political-cycle thinking that we've had for the last decade, this immediate-advantage thinking, to thinking about what is in the long-term best interests of this country. Enshrining stewardship as an APS value ensures that employees are able to see how their individual behaviours contribute to that overall stewardship of the Public Service—how the work they do day to day plays into that long-term benefit for our country. It supports everyone having some joint ownership of the role the organisation plays.

The APS purpose statement will have to be reviewed at least once every five years to ensure it remains contemporary and responsive to the changing views and expectations of government and the community. Again, this is something that will help to unify the service but also present a common vision so that people doing their jobs, day to day, know what they are working towards and how they are working together to achieve that in the best interests of our country.

The bill also includes a provision for decision-making to be undertaken at the lowest appropriate classification. Going back to my own experience in the Public Service and from discussions I've had with a number of senior and past public servants, it does seem that, over time, a tendency has crept into public services where it's thought that decisions and important work can only be done at the most senior levels, and for everyone else it's a bit unclear: they're doing good work, but they couldn't possibly make a decision. Certainly, when I talk to people who were involved in the Public Service prior to the past decade, they say that they really benefited from often having subject-matter experts at lower levels being able to make responsible decisions, with, of course, appropriate oversight and all those things. But we devalue workers—we devalue people within the Public Service—when we make an assumption that only those at the highest level can make decisions. This change seeks to ensure that decision-making is not raised to a higher level than necessary. It improves decision-making processes and hopefully reduces duplication of work, which I think many staff would appreciate as well.

The bill includes capability reviews to make sure that we have regular, independent and transparent capability reviews as a five-yearly requirement. It also requires resulting reports and action plans to be published on an agency website, allowing for that transparency, so that we know the Public Service is conducting this work and is also being acquitted and so that the government knows that we are continuing to build this long-term capability in the APS. Capability reviews and the resulting action plans are an opportunity to focus on strengths and development areas and, again, to help prepare the Public Service to look ahead and think about what sort of operating environment they need to be in. This aligns with a number of other countries that we share values of public service with. Countries like the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada all have reviews of their public sector capability.

The Thodey review also 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 strategic policy challenges. It called for genuine consultation with the public on issues affecting Australia and its society. Under this proposed amendment, the Secretaries Board must cause at least one long-term insights report to be prepared each financial year, again with that report to be published. Analysis in the report will be impartial, apolitical and based in evidence, building that ability to look to the long term and to reassure Australians that their public service is preparing for that long term and has the capability to continue to work in all of our best interests into that long term.

The amendment will also ensure transparency around the APS employee census, which is an annual survey to collect information about the attitudes and opinions of APS employees, by ensuring that agencies have to publish their aggregate results from that survey. The people who work in the Public Service are some of the best placed people to know what future improvements and changes need to be made, so it is important that the Public Service gathers that information. It's also that agencies look at it and work out their plans to act on it, and that they are public and transparent about that, so that the Australian people and governments know what's happening there and know that any issues identified are being addressed.

I'll go back to where I started. The very fact that this bill is before this place, the very fact that we are debating this bill, shows that this government values the Public Service. We know that our community relies on that Centrelink worker who helps them get a disaster relief payment. We know that our community relies on that support coordinator who helps them with their NDIS plan. We know that our community gets the best results when the people in the public service can give our government frank and fearless advice that helps us deal with the very real challenges this country faces. This bill is before the House because we also know that, for a decade, our Public Service has not been valued in that way. Our Public Service has been undermined. People within the Public Service have not been respected as they should.

This bill goes a long way to restoring the Public Service to the position it should hold. It shows all those members of the Public Service in our country that, as a government, we value them and we value the work they do. We are investing in that work. We are investing in the capability of a modern, fit-for-purpose Public Service. I commend this bill to the House.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian Public Service stands as a shining beacon of our important democracy. It's an important part of what makes Australia such a great place to live. What are those things that make Australia great? A minimum wage system, a Medicare system and access to higher education make Australia great. These are fundamental parts of the Australian fabric, but who administers them? Who coordinates them on behalf of the government of the day? It's the Public Service. One of the things that I think is fundamentally interesting about these people is their title: to serve the public. Their values, the way that they act, are to invest in public good, to make our country better.

I rise to make a contribution to the Public Service Amendment Bill 2023. This bill aims to bring enduring change to the Australian Public Service and ensure its ability to serve the government, the parliament and, most importantly, the Australian public for today and into the future. I would like to thank the Minister for the Public Service for bringing this bill forward as well as for her commitment to our Public Service.

In the 2015-16 budget, the coalition government announced a policy to maintain the average staffing level of the Public Service at the 2006-07 level, which was about 168,000 people. This policy was referred to the Community and Public Sector Union as the average staffing level cap. This was proven to be a false economy. The government was spending more on outsourcing than any money saved. In fact, it was shown that the equivalent of nearly 54,000 full-time staff were employed as consultants or service providers for the federal government during the last financial year. That is the equivalent of 37 per cent of the 144,300 employees of the Public Service. During this speech, I hope to demonstrate later just how bad this decision was for the Australian Public Service at the capacity and capability level and also that it was very poor value for money for the Australian people.

At the 2022 election, we pledged to abolish the arbitrary staffing level cap of the Morrison government and to reduce spending on the procurement of contractors, consultants and labour hire. I was pleased to see that the 2023-24 budget papers reported that the average staffing levels in government will increase by about six per cent. That will be up to the equivalent of about 192,000 public servants. Some of the increases derive from ongoing or increased funding for critical services and a reduced reliance on contractors, consultants and external labour hire. Already about 3,300 formerly external roles have been converted to public service positions. This is good value for the Australian public.

Those opposite falsely claimed that the explosion of government expenditure on outsourcing was due to the unexpected needs for assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This does not sit with the facts. At the beginning of the Morrison government, spending on external contractors had already exploded by 250 per cent since the start of the coalition's time in office. When the staffing level cap was announced in the 2015-16 budget, the Australian government was spending about $1.2 billion on external contractors and consultants, and this was already a steady gain on the 2016-17 budget. External contractors then exploded 60 per cent in 2017-18, to $2 billion.

Why was this? Only two years into this experiment, the government realised that it couldn't reach its goals whilst maintaining the cap, yet it persisted with a policy that it knew was failing. I've described that as wilful blindness. Shockingly, it pursued the policy through the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most dangerous and challenging public policy periods in Australian history, despite knowing full well that this policy was already a failure. All in all, during this decade of the coalition government in office, spending on external contractors increased by over 1,200 per cent, with spending on consultants increasing by close to 250 per cent. This is a shocking indictment on the coalition's approach to governance in Australia and the shocking way it spent public money.

I will say that I was a consultant for 12 years and that there is a time and a place for consultants. I use the analogy of electricity: you have base load electricity demand that you need to meet, and then there are times where you have peaking demand. The thing that I would say is similar is that, in the Public Service, there is core work that the Public Service needs to do to ensure that it fulfils its core requirements. Sometimes there will be projects with required expertise, so it's important to be very intentional to do this. We need to make sure that the capability and capacity to do the core work is held by the Public Service. That means you get to keep institutional knowledge within the organisation rather than it going external.

The Public Service Amendment Bill 2023 represents a significant step in implementing reforms recommended by the Thodey review to transform the Australian Public Service. It aims to create a future-fit, responsive and trusted APS that gives frank and fearless advice and serves the government, the parliament and, most importantly, the Australian public. The APS reform agenda which the bill is a part of focuses on four priority areas: integrity, people-centric policies and services, being a model employer and improving the APS's capability. The proposed amendments in this bill emphasise the importance of strengthening the core purpose and values of the APS. This includes introducing a new APS value of stewardship and creating a unified APS purpose statement to promote a shared understanding of the APS's role across departments and agencies.

The truth is I have worked in the private sector most of my life; however, I remember a time when I was auditing a public sector organisation and I was also the WA branch president of Professionals Australia, the union that represents engineers. The thing that stood out to me not only when I would do audits but also when spending time with my public sector engineering colleagues was the fundamental values base of those that work in the public sector versus those in the private sector. The thing that I observed was a sense of collegiality, not only wanting to make sure that there is an investment in the skills of the future of the Public Service but also this fundamental desire to contribute to public good.

Australians should share our pride for our Public Service and know that being a public servant is an honourable profession. The current values are: impartiality, commitment to service, accountability, respect and ethics, which demonstrates the best of the Australian state. Impartiality shows commitment to fairness and equality in treating everyone the same, regardless of who they are and who they know. Their apolitical nature means so much of Australia sails on, regardless of the chaos of this place, a situation many countries aspire to. Their commitment to service is also a commitment to professionalism, objectivity, innovation and efficiency. These are the values of a well-engineered workforce, something we could all strive for and admire. The accountability of the Public Service in some way exceeds the accountability of elected leaders. We have only just legislated an anticorruption commission and we on this side welcome that transparency.

Finally, I will talk about the value of ethics. 'The APS demonstrates leadership, is trustworthy, and acts with integrity in all that it does.' These are simple but powerful words. Adding stewardship to these values means we are ensuring the APS will always work with an eye on the future while meeting the requirements of today, will work to build its capacity and expertise, future-proof itself and consider the long-term ramifications of its work. Reaffirming an apolitical APS is at the core of these values.

The now opposition on occasion decided that officers of the APS were their servants as opposed to the public's servants. Recognising the need to address the concerns about eroding capability over time, this bill emphasises the importance of building the capability and expertise of the APS. It proposes measures such as regular capability reviews and engaging the Australian public to uplift the APS's capability and ensure a skilled and confident workforce.

Apart from the incredibly important goal of strengthening Australia's Public Service, I see this bill as a part of a suite of reforms that the Albanese government has committed to in order to improve the governance and the general functioning of government all the way across the Public Service and even right here in this place.

On this side of the chamber we deeply believe in the importance of making government work for people, not just using the government as an ideological tool to achieve some vague notion of small governance or handing out contracts to favoured private contractors. We believe in the immense capability of the people who work in the Public Service and we want to support them by creating a platform for them to do their job effectively, with compassion and professionalism.

This bill acknowledges the importance of external scrutiny, transparency and empowering the APS employees. It provides measures such as enabling decisions at appropriate levels, publishing of annual APS employee census results and responding through the action plans to enhance the government accountability and transparency of the APS.

The final thing that I will talk about is the need to measure the right numbers. The truth is when the staffing level caps came in, the coalition government fundamentally wanted to measure the wrong thing. They had an ideological position that small government was better, but they didn't understand that they actually needed the capacity to deliver the work of the government. So, rather than just having people that were part of the APS, they hired external contractors. They essentially did not look at the right numbers, they fiddled the books and they had the wrong targets.

The truth is that we needed to look at this from a high-level perspective and understand what was fundamentally happening, and at the time the size of the problem was not well understood. But we fundamentally understand it now and we're fixing it. We're continuing to get on with the wasted decade of delay and dysfunction of the previous coalition government.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government is taking the next steps in rebuilding the Australian Public Service by the introduction of this bill, the Public Service Amendment Bill 2023, and it's a very important bill because the broader Australian Public Service reform agenda is about restoring the public's trust and faith in governments and institutions. I suppose, when you think about it, there's not a single day when Australians—every single one of us, every single one of our constituents—do not have contact with our Public Service. Of course, the contact that they have could be through a pensioner trying to get their rebate back or dealing with a Centrelink issue. It could be a student querying his HECS fees et cetera. Every day, every single person around this country has some sort of interaction with the Public Service, and it's sad to hear that people have lost faith in governments, not just here in Australia but around the world.

The face of government is always the Public Service, and I know that in Australia we've had a very good system—a system that is impenetrable, a public service system that is professional, a public service system in which public servants take pride in their job of giving fearless advice to government and, as I said, in being impenetrable. But all this has weakened in the last few years. When we see millions of dollars being spent on outsourcing, on consultants and on companies outside of the Public Service to do even policy work, it asks a question of our public servants.

Where you once had public servants who were determined professionals doing good work because they were committed to a particular area in the office that they were working in, we've seen a lot of that work being outsourced and a lot of casualisation of the Public Service. If you're a casual and you don't know what's happening from month to month or every three months or every six months or even every 12 months, this has meant that you're always on the lookout for something else and you're not really 100 per cent committed to that particular area, and we need good public servants—people who know that their future is secure in a job where they will be able to contribute, and contribute in a way that will benefit the government of this country, regardless of who the government is, benefit policymaking and ensure that the flow of that spills out into the community.

As I said, there's not a single day when there's no contact between the Australian public and our constituents and the Public Service. We have seen a huge issue at Centrelink in the past few years in terms of the workload, the information that people get not being up to date or the information having to be re-requested. These are all things that this bill will try to combat to make sure that we have an Australian public that has confidence in its democracy, and the core of a democracy is obviously the way in which its public service operates. The casualisation, the consultants and the outsourcing haven't helped strengthen the Public Service. In fact, they have helped weakened it.

Having said that, I will say that there are many, many good people in the Public Service who work very hard and are very committed, and we want to make sure that we add to that and make it even better. As I said, there's a broader APS reform agenda that is about restoring the public's trust and faith in government and its institutions. This bill will strengthen the APS core purposes and values and build the capabilities and expertise of the Australian Public Service and support good governance, accountability and transparency. It will require the Australian Public Service to have a purpose statement—in other words, a common goal which will benefit this nation and that they should always be striving to reach. There are a lot of things in it. One of the things is to make it clear that ministers cannot direct agency heads to employment matters. Another is to encourage decision-making at the lowest appropriate level. This gives people confidence. It builds their confidence, and it develops them as professional public servants. That is a good point, to allow decision-making at the lowest appropriate level without interference from others. It will also make regular capability reviews an absolute requirement. The bill will also require annual Australian Public Service employee census results to be published, along with an action plan responding to those results, which is a good thing.

Early last year, I think it was, Australia suffered one of the globe's largest falls in public trust. According to the Edelman public trust barometer, just 52 per cent of Australians trusted the government and its institutions to do the right thing. That was just above 50 per cent—52 per cent—which is very sad when you think about it. It was a steep nine-point decline from 2021. That's a massive loss of confidence in our governance system, our governments, our Public Service. This bill is really important in winning back the Australian public's trust, and it will be a key challenge facing our governments and our institutions. We must restore that trust.

I suppose the question is: what does good governance look like and how can we restore the trust of Australians in our government and institutions? That question cannot be answered without the Australian Public Service at its core. The face-to-face contact that everyday Australians have with the Australian Public Service is core to that trust. We know that good government delivers effective policy, is transparent and is accountable to the public. If we want to earn the trust of Australians, you must agree that you have to have an absolutely solid foundation in the institutions that assist us and help us. We need to recognise that the world changes, and so should our institutions.

We saw during the pandemic the reliance on the Public Service in terms of the health department and Centrelink and the work that they did. That was an incredible period where the number of people requiring assistance from Centrelink or from the health department shot through the roof, grew by thousands of people. That proved that we do have a Public Service that is very committed and works very hard, and that restored some of that confidence back into our system. The fact that we were able to mobilise people within the Public Service to assist and help was also very important.

What also needs to be looked at closely and focused on is workplace culture and to set the standard of Respect@Work. We've seen many reports in this place and other places which provide a blueprint for that respectful environment. The Public Service is the face of the Australian government; it's the face of our institutions. This bill will ensure that we are able to work with the Public Service, to make sure that they develop and become an even better Public Service than we've had for many years.

The Public Service values and principles that this bill talks about reflect the responsibility that public servants are entrusted with and apply across all agencies. When these laws are enshrined, the responsibility of stewardship in the Public Service Act will be absolutely crucial. As was referenced in the report of the Thodey review, stewardship can encourage building a service that is committed to the public interest and sustains genuine partnerships in the institution's knowledge—the ability to create that knowledge and keep it within the Public Service, not to lose it when Public Service employees leave. Rather than losing all that history and knowledge, there should be a system in place to keep it within the Public Service for ever and a day.

One of the other areas is preserving and enhancing our great social assets, the large social programs that have assisted people for many years. Whether it be Medicare or, in the last 10 years, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, or protecting the Great Barrier Reef, these are all areas of the Public Service that play a crucial role. Focusing on our health system is also fundamental, as is the way we innovate, collaborate and improve our Public Service for generations to come so it can continue to provide services to the people who need them and ensure they get their rebate back in a timely manner. The same goes for Centrelink. These agencies are the face of government, regardless of which side of this chamber we sit on; that is the reality. Out on the ground, in our electorates, when people have contact with government, it's usually through those agencies that they deal with every day.

We need to prioritise an Australian Public Service that puts people and businesses at the centre of policy and services. The public should be at the centre of every single policy. I know that government is going to work with leaders of the APS on a vision for a partnership between the Public Service and people, communities, business, the not-for-profit sector, universities, states, territories and others. Engagement and co-design with our partners have to become a natural and early impulse in the way we work. Each month, a thousand people across the country are surveyed on their level of trust in and satisfaction with the Public Service. This information should be published annually. We need greater transparency on what Australians are saying about their government. When I talk about government, I'm not just talking about us in here. People see government through the lens of the daily contact they have with the different agencies; it's their lived experience of the Public Service.

These are really important measures in making sure that we restore some confidence in the systems that we have in this country. As I've said, we have a great Public Service. It's renowned as one of the best public services in the world. In fact, many of the systems in our Public Service have been exported to other countries. We see the good work that's being done in countries in the Pacific and in new democracies. It's something we should be proud of, and it's also something that we can build on and make even stronger and better. This will deliver a better future for all Australians and a better experience when they have contact with agencies and services. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned.