Commonwealth public service compared to Utopia in government review

PEEVED public servants have blown the whistle on corruption, cronyism and “Yes Minister’’ kow-towing, complaining of a work culture akin to the TV series Utopia.

• PC push for public service jobs

PEEVED public servants have blown the whistle on cronyism and “Yes Minister’’ kow-towing, complaining of a work culture akin to the TV series Utopia.

The Turnbull Government’s review of the Commonwealth public service, led by CSIRO boss and former Telstra chief David Thodey, has fielded gripes from hundreds of bureaucrats.

“Unfortunately a film crew is not needed for the Utopia TV show — you could literally take cameras into offices to make the show!’’ says one submission, signed Professor S Stoneway. “Often for simple briefings of a page or less, up to 10 levels of clearance may be required, sometimes more.

“In one agency I have worked for, a Facebook post had to be vetted by seven different levels of management.’’

One submission to the review compared the public service to a real-life version of the TV series Utopia, starring Rob Sitch.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has told the review that “concerns about cronyism have increased’’ as more consultants seek public service contracts. It says a recent Australian Public Service survey found 5 per cent of employees had witnessed corrupt behaviour.

“Cronyism was by far the most common form of corruption witnessed … followed by nepotism and ‘green-lighting’ — a term for decisions that improperly favour a person or company, or disadvantage another,’’ the CPSU submission says.

One public servant told the review that “the boys’ club is alive and well’’.

“The biggest lesson I have learnt is to keep quiet, don’t question the system, don’t rock the boat, keep your head down and do what you are told,’’ the anonymous bureaucrat said.

Another claimed “children of senior personnel are first to be promoted to higher levels regardless of ability’’.

“There’s this one instance, where the employee had to be extensively coached in every single task, would routinely turn up late for work just because he couldn’t be bothered getting out of bed, decided to spend extra long unscheduled lunch breaks and rock back whenever,’’ the submission states.

Many government workers complained faulty IT systems are causing chaos.

“Customers phone us over and over, seeing when their system issue will be resolved, instead of just calling once and getting great service or using online services that work,’’ one worker wrote.

A public servant with 30 years of experience complained the 24-hour news cycle and social media had sunk policy-making to its lowest level.

“It seems all our government, of either political stripe, wants is to increase the number of social media ‘likes’ it receives,’’ the bureaucrat wrote.

Australian Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd, who will step down on Wednesday after briefing the Thodey review team, said he welcomed the review but could not comment on the issues raised. He said the public service was “professional, effective and efficient’’.

“People often work in it for less pay than they would get in the private sector,’’ he said.