Australia ‘expects more’ of public servants

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s push to get public servants to lift their game has been backed by Australia’s top bureaucrat.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will deliver a speech to the Institute of Public­ Administration in Canberra today. Picture: AAP

Australia’s outgoing top bureaucrat Martin Parkinson has backed Scott Morrison’s push for innovation and reform of the public service, declaring “the Australian public expect more of us”.

The secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told leading bureaucrats in Canberra this morning that the Prime Minister’s push to reform the public service should “give you clarity about where we are going and how fast we intend to get there”.

“The PM has been pretty clear already about how he sees the public service. He respects the APS. He appreciates the different roles played by ministers, their offices and the public service,” Dr Parkinson said in Parliament House this morning.

“But while we have done well in the past, he and the Australian public expect more of us. More delivery, more momentum, more focus and getting on with the job of serving Australians and making their lives easier.

“In fact this is exactly what we have been hearing from the public themselves. They expect more of us as well.”

Dr Parkinson will be replaced in his role next month by Treasury secretary Philip Gaetjens.

He said government departments need to be more innovative and listen to a wider range of voices outside the public service.

“We have gotten better at engaging with outside views. The first step of that though is recognising they existed,” he said.

“We have brought in more people from outside the APS but we still have a long way to go in making that transition.”

Morrison puts public servants on notice

The PM put public service mandarins on notice that they will have to meet greater community expectations of service delivery, respect the government’s policy agenda and remove crippling bureaucr­acy if they want to keep their jobs.

The implicit message, delivered­ by Scott Morrison today in a speech to the Institute of Public­ Administration in Canberra, comes as the Prime Minister warned that his cabinet ministers would also be held accountable for regulatory reform and policy rigour­ across their portfolios.

With more changes expected in the senior ranks of the public service in coming months, Mr Morrison will today outline a broader vision for the public service that will challenge the “Canberra club’’ and put “quiet Australians” at the heart of the public service mission.

Fears within the bureaucracy that a quiet purge was being ­planned were rejected by the government.

However, Mr Morrison said community expectations “have never been greater” and the Australian Public Service needs to “evolve” as more demands are made of it to deliver public services such as the NDIS.

In a strident reminder it was the government that set policy, not the public service, Mr Morrison signalled a new era of accountability will sweep through the bureaucracy. Reforms will include a recruitment drive to open up public service jobs to private sector professionals, in what some regard as a radical culture shock for the APS.

“At the departmental level, secretari­es will need to be pro­active in identifying ways to bust congestion in the commonwealth bureaucracy,” Mr Morrison will say in his speech at the Great Hall of Parliament House.

“And all ministers will continue to remain responsible for ensuring that regulations in their portfolios are fit for purpose.

“There is strong evidence that the trust deficit that has afflicted many Western democracies over recent years stems in part from a perception politics is very responsive to those at the top and those at the bottom, but not so much to those in the middle.”

The Australian recently revealed sweeping reforms to the APS, with confirmation that the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, ­Martin Parkinson, will retire.

His successor, former Treasury secretary Phil Gaetjens, will lead the implementation of recommendations from a review into the APS by former Telstra boss David Thodey, which will be handed to government in the coming weeks.

Since announcing Mr Gaetjens’ appointment, and his replaceme­nt in Steven Kennedy as Treasury secretary, Mr Morrison has made key appointments to agencies including ASIO and the Australian Federal Police, as well as the appointment of former ­Abbott and Howard government security adviser Andrew Shearer as cabinet secretary. The widely respected secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson, is tipped to move into another portfolio.

Mr Morrison said: “The Australian people need to be at the centre of APS service delivery. That is the thinking behind ­Services Australia. This isn’t some fancy rebranding exercise.

“It’s a message to the whole of the APS, top to bottom, about what matters to people. It’s about doing the little things well, everything from reducing call waiting times and turnaround on corres­pondence through to improving the experience people have walking into a Centrelink office.

“I want to send a message to every single member of the APS, in whatever role you have: you can make a difference to the lives of the Australian people.

“In rugby, my coach used to describe­ it as the bacon and eggs principle: the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.”