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APS |
Australian Public Service |
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EEO |
Equal
Employment |
|
EPAC |
Economic Planning and Advisory Council |
|
OH&S |
Occupational Health and Safety |
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PSMPC |
Public Service and Merit Protection Commission |
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SES |
Senior Executive Service |
Since the mid 1970s, the Australian Public Service (APS) has undergone significant changes. These changes can be understood as falling into three categoriesopenness; internal equity and welfare; and efficiency and effectiveness. It is important to note that in government policy making these categories have not necessarily been given equal weight. For example, in the 1990s it has been argued that under successive governments there was a much stronger emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness than on openness or on internal equity and welfare. Further, it needs to be stated that change has not necessarily been mutually reinforcing. For example, it is quite possible that some efficiency measures have the capacity to undermine attempts to increase the openness of government. Nevertheless, the three categories are useful as a way of 'organising' the large number of changes. Indeed, by identifying the first two categories, it is hoped that readers will be reminded that change in the APS is not exclusively about 'bean-counting'.
These changes have been intended to provide citizens with more information about government decision-making and, in some cases, the right to have decisions reviewed. Early examples include the establishment of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the introduction of Freedom of Information rights. More recent examples include customer service charters, the Purchasing Advisory and Complaints Service and more independence for the Auditor-General.
These changes have been intended to ensure that employees progress according to merit and also that the APS provides a safe workplace. Early changes include the introduction of equal employment opportunity and occupational health and safety initiatives. More recently, the policy of workplace diversity has emphasised benefits to the organisation as well as to the employee.
These changes have been intended to ensure that the optimal benefit is extracted from public resources. They have been characterised by an emphasis on the efficient use of financial and human resources, the emulation of the private sector, the adoption of market mechanisms and an emphasis on performance control. This approach was flagged in 1976 in a report commissioned by the Whitlam Government. The Hawke and Keating Governments initiated the efficiency and effectiveness aspect of the transformation of the APS and the Howard Government has accelerated its implementation.
Taken together, these changes constitute a transformation of the public service. It is interesting to note that successive governments have generally consolidated, or at least tolerated, the changes of previous governments.
The purpose of this chronology of key events is to provide a historical context in which to understand the continuing evolution of the APS.(1) More specifically, the chronology is intended to:
The chronology focuses on key events relating to the public service's management of human, financial and other resources. In particular, it includes key events (e.g. documents, announcements and legislation) relating to:
The number of possible entries in such a chronology is very large. By outlining key events, this chronology is intended to convey the character of change over the last twenty-five years. An important criterion in determining whether an event warranted inclusion was whether secondary sources referred to it.
For reasons of space and time, there are some areas which the chronology does not canvass. The reduction in the number of APS employees is not discussed, although it is illustrated in a graph on page 3. With some exceptions, the chronology does not provide details of changes relating to machinery of government.(2) Cabinet or ministerial responsibility, privatisation, or outsourcing. Nor does it provide information relating to statutory authorities. Reports by parliamentary committees and the Management Advisory Board and Management Improvement Advisory Committee are listed separately at the end of the paper.
Once the Commonwealth was properly established at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a period of incremental change until the mid 1970s. In contrast, the last twenty-five years of the 20th century have brought rapid and significant change to the APS.
Traditionally, the public service was characterised by the following:
By the 1970s, this system was being questioned as social changes undermined the foundation of a distant and hierarchical bureaucracy. In 1974, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a Royal Commission to examine government administration. In the area of administrative law, several inquiries were conducted, leading to recommendations for changes that would open government decisions to scrutiny. Meanwhile, an emerging critique of government put pressure on governments to demonstrate that they used public resources wisely.
This questioning has led to significant public service change
since 1975. The impact of this change is encapsulated in the demise
of the term 'public administration' and
the rise of the term 'public management'.
The difference is explained by public policy analyst,
In contrast to its predecessor,(7) the 'new' APS is characterised by:
A decline in the number of employees has been an integral component of the drive for efficiency. The following graph illustrates the decline in APS employment since the 1980s.(8) It shows the overall decline has halted in recent years, mainly due to increased employment in taxation (related to implementation of The New Tax System) and security-related initiatives (in areas such as Defence, Federal Police and Attorney-General's).
Source: Australian Public Service Commission
The driving forces(9) behind this new approach to public service management include the following:
Milestones |
Details |
Source Documents |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 |
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Section is established in the Public Service Board to address employment inequities facing women, indigenous Australians, people with disabilities and people from a non-English speaking background. |
Public Service Board, Annual Report 197475. |
| 1975 |
Administrative Appeals Tribunal is established to provide independent review of a wide range of administrative decisions made by the Commonwealth Government and some non-government bodies. |
Administrative
http://austlii.law.uts. |
| July 1975 |
Confrontation between the Government and the Opposition-controlled Senate over the appearance of public servants as witnesses to give evidence. Government ministers instruct public servants 'to claim privilege in respect of answers to all questions' with which the Senate was concerned. This conflict leads ultimately to the formalisation of guidelines for public service witnesses in 1978. |
Senate
Debates, Odgers'
Australian Senate Practice (10th edition), House
of Representatives |
| 1976 |
Report into government administration (Coombs Commission) supports:
|
Royal
Commission on Australian Government Administration, Report,
AGPS, |
| 1976 |
Commonwealth Ombudsman is established to consider complaints from people who believe they have been adversely affected by the defective administration of Commonwealth departments or agencies. |
Ombudsman
Act 1976. |
| 1977 |
Legislation to facilitate judicial review by the Federal Court of some exercises of Commonwealth power (came into operation 1 October 1980). |
Administrative
Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977. |
| 1977 |
Legislation to allow for the dismissal of staff who engage in industrial action and the suspension without pay of staff who cannot work as a result of industrial action (repealed with effect from November 1983). |
Commonwealth
Employees (Employment Provisions) Act 1977
(now defunct). |
| 1979 |
Facilitation of the retrenchment of public servants surplus to requirements and a requirement for the permanent head to ensure the efficient, effective and economical use of the department's staff. |
Commonwealth
Employees Redeployment and Retirement Act 1979
(now defunct). |
| 1980 |
Public Service Board advises departments to adopt the common law principle of 'No work as directedno pay'. This is ruled not to be legal, leading to the amendment of the Public Service Act 1922 to provide for the principle (repealed in 1983). |
|
| 1982 |
Extension of the right of the community to access information in the possession of the Commonwealth Government. |
Freedom
of Information Act 1982. |
| January 1983 |
Reid Report (review announced 23 September 1982) emphasises the importance of quality management (including financial management and personnel management), as well as issues relating to machinery of government, ministerial responsibility and administrative review. |
Review
of Commonwealth Administration report,
AGPS, |
| December 1983 |
Statement by the Prime Minister emphasises efficiency, effectiveness, equity and responsiveness to Ministers and the Parliament (leads to the Public Service Reform Act 1984). |
|
| 1984 |
Merit Protection and Review Agency established to ensure that actions taken in relation to Commonwealth employees are fair and equitable. |
Merit
Protection (Australian Government Employees) Act 1984. |
| 1984 |
Public Service Reform Act 1984:
|
Public
Service Reform Act 1984 |
| 1984 |
Abolition of the Public Service Arbitrator. |
Conciliation
and Arbitration Amendment Act 1983. |
| February 1984 |
Financial Management Improvement Program emphasises a shift away from compliance towards performance control (including program budgeting which is phased in during the mid-1980s). |
Australian Public Service Board and Department of Finance, Financial Management Improvement ProgramDiagnostic Study, 1984. |
| |
Announcement that a working party will monitor EEO practices in the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations and develop a management plan (other departments to follow). |
|
| |
Cabinet agrees to proceed with changes outlined in Reforming the Australian Public Service: A Statement of the Government's Intentions. |
|
| April 1984 |
Budget Reform paper sets out the Government's reform priorities:
|
Department of Finance, Budget ReformA Statement of the Government's Achievements and Intentions in Reforming Australian Government Financial Administration, AGPS, Canberra, 1984. |
| June 1984 |
The Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 takes effect. This legislation creates a separate, formal legislative basis for the employment of staff by members of parliament, making such employment potentially independent from public service employment. |
|
| 1985 |
Public Service Board develops a model Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) agreement. |
|
| |
Prime Minister announces the streamlining and rationalisation of some functions and agencies in response to difficult economic circumstances. |
R.
J. L. Hawke, Address
to the Nation on the Economic Situation, |
| |
Prime Minister's statement to Parliament announces:
|
R.
J. L. Hawke, |
| 1987 |
Restructuring and Efficiency Principle rationalises job classifications for clerical and support staff. |
|
| July 1987 |
Efficiency Scrutiny Unit recommends the replacement of the Public Service Board with a Public Service Commission (holding a reduced role), the devolution of some functions to departments and the transfer of some functions to the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations and to the Department of Finance. |
D. Bock,
Report by |
| |
Announcement of the formation of 'mega departments', generally headed by a senior minister assisted by junior ministers (number of departments reduced from 28 to 18). |
Prime
Minister's media release, |
| |
Replacement of Public Service Board with smaller Public Service Commission (some responsibilities transferred to the Department of Finance or the Department of Industrial Relations, or devolved to departments). Establishment of Australian Public Service Management Advisory Board, to advise the Government on significant management issues and act as a forum for consideration of major management activities (replaced by the Management Advisory Committee in 1999). |
Administrative
|
| April 1988 |
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Public Accounts (JCPA) commences a review of the Audit Office. The Committee's report, delivered in 1989, would lead ultimately to the introduction of the Auditor-General Bill 1994, and finally the passage of the Auditor-General Act 1997, which would establish the Auditor-General as an officer of the Parliament (see also 1 January 1998, below). |
JCPA,
The Auditor- |
| August 1988 |
Adoption of the Structural Efficiency Principle leads to rationalisation of job classifications for professional, technical and blue collar grades. |
|
| |
Privacy Act 1988 passed, regulating the collection, handling and use of personal information by the Commonwealth, and also establishing the Privacy Commissioner within the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. |
|
| December 1989 |
Management Improvement Advisory Committee established to support the Management Advisory Board. |
|
| March 1990 |
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission replaces the Commonwealth's Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Aboriginal Development Commission, taking over responsibility for many of the Commonwealth's indigenous programs. |
|
| |
Privacy Commissioner releases a directory detailing the amount and type of records of a personal nature held by the Commonwealth. |
Personal
|
| August 1990 |
Decision to restructure the Commonwealth Bank in preparation for a partial public float heralds a series of major full or partial privatisations, including:
|
Department
of Commonwealth
|
| |
Economic Planning and Advisory Council (EPAC) report concludes that productivity improvements in the public sector have generally outpaced those in the private sector. |
The
size and |
| 1991 |
Occupational Health & Safety programs required in agencies, to be developed in consultation with unions. |
|
| July 1991 |
Agencies are allowed to use property service providers other than the Department of Administrative Services, and a 1.25 per cent Efficiency Dividend clawback is applied to the running costs of all agencies. |
John
Wanna, |
| |
Announcement that the Refugee Review Tribunal will replace the Refugee Status Review Committee, resulting in more limited avenues of appeal. |
|
| |
Announcement that all new contracts with the Department of Administrative Services will include a clause requiring suppliers to comply with the EEO requirements of the Government. |
|
| |
Announcement of a workplace agreement allowing for productivity reforms and agency-level bargaining. |
|
| December 1992 |
An evaluation of a decade of management changes concludes that :
|
Task Force on Management Improvement, The Australian Public Service Reformed: An evaluation of a decade of management reform, AGPS, 1992. |
| December 1992 |
Service-wide APS Agreement 199294 (extended to 1995) includes:
|
Improving productivity, jobs and pay in the Australian Public Service 199294, Department of Industrial Relations, December 1992. |
| December 1992 |
Performance pay introduced for SES and senior officers in order to encourage productivity growth (later wound back for senior officers). |
Improving
productivity, jobs and pay in the Australian Public Service
199294Agreement between the Commonwealth Government and public
sector unions,
|
| 1993 |
Audit Office (ANAO) undertakes an audit of the 1992 performance pay agreement. The audit finds almost all senior staff were given pay increases under the scheme, and that the scheme was a de facto system for awarding significant pay increases. |
ANAO,
'Performance Pay: Performance Appraisal and Pay in the Australian
Public Service', Audit Report no. 16, 1993, ANAO, John
Wanna, |
| 1994 |
Provision of fixed term appointments for departmental Secretaries. |
Prime
Minister and |
| June 1994 |
In response to the 1989 Joint Committee on Public Accounts' (JCPA) report on the Audit Office, the Government introduces new financial accountability legislation, and announces its intention that the Auditor-General be funded directly from the Budget and that a parliamentary Audit Committee be established. (Ultimately, no separate committee is set up. Instead, the JCPA is changed to the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit). |
House
of Representatives Debates,
'Auditor plans are good, not ideal', Canberra Times, 22 June 1994. |
| |
Cabinet introduces measures to enforce equal representation of women on public boards and committees. |
|
| 1995 |
Report of the Public Service Act Review Group recommends that the Public Service Act 1922 be replaced by a new Act that will be 'built around the principles and values which stress the centrality of an apolitical public service with merit-based staffing, high standards of honesty and integrity, a strong focus on efficiency and results, and responsiveness and accountability to the government of the day while maintaining a capacity to provide quality and impartial advice.' |
|
| 1995 |
Public Service and Merit Protection Commission (PSMPC) established through the amalgamation of the Public Service Commission and the Merit Protection and Review Agency. |
|
| 4 May 1995 |
Government announces plans to replace the Public Service Act 1922 in response to Report of the Public Service Act Review Group. |
|
| July 1995 |
Government and unions agree to a service-wide enterprise agreement for 199596. |
|
| |
Administrative Review Council's report into the effectiveness of the merits review tribunals makes a number of recommendations, including the consolidation of five tribunals into a single new tribunal. |
Administrative
Review Council, Better decisions: review of Commonwealth
Merits Review Tribunals, |
| September 1995 |
Service-wide APS agreement 199596 includes a strategy for securing further efficiencies. |
Continuous Improvement in the APS, Agreement between the Commonwealth Government and public sector unions, September 1995. |
| 1996 |
Six departmental secretaries' appointments terminated following the change of government. The departures were:
|
'Top
bureaucrats victims of purge', Sydney Morning Herald,
|
| 1996 |
Industry Commission, Bureau of Industry Economics and Economic Planning Advisory Commission amalgamate on an administrative basis. In 1998 they become the Productivity Commission. |
Productivity
|
| June 1996 |
National Commission of Audit (established March 1996) recommends a more limited role for government, a greater emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency, and the separation of policy formation from program delivery. |
National
Commission of Audit, Report
to the Commonwealth Government,
|
| November 1996 |
Discussion paper issued by The Hon Peter Reith MP, leads to the Public Service Act 1999 and the Parliamentary Service Act 1999. It points to the potential benefits of flexibility, streamlining and cultural change. |
P. Reith, Towards a Best Practice Australian Public Service , November 1996. |
| November 1996 |
Small Business Deregulation Task Force reports to the Government on ways to reduce the compliance burden on small businesses (e.g. single entry point for collection of information and effective use of information technology). |
Small Business Deregulation Task Force, Time for Business, 1996. |
| December 1996 |
Under the Workplace Relations Act 1996:
|
|
| 1997 |
Government introduces Public Service Bill (amended Bill passed in 1999). |
|
| March 1997 |
Agencies to be responsible for agreement-making, using certified agreements and/or Australian Workplace Agreements, and subject to the Government's policy parameters. |
Media
release, Minister for Industrial Relations, |
| March 1997 |
All government departments, agencies and business enterprises dealing with the public to be required to develop customer service charters. |
Media
release, Putting
service first in the public service , Minister for Small Business and Consumer Affairs,
|
| |
Attorney-General announces that the Government proposes to amalgamate the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Immigration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal to create a single review body to be called the Administrative Review Tribunal (expected to commence operations in February 2001). Originally, the Veterans' Review Board was also to be amalgamated but this was reversed in February 1992. |
Media release, Reform
of merits tribunal, Attorney-General,
Media release, Establishment
of the Administrative Review Tribunal,
Attorney-General, |
| |
Prime Minister responds to the Time for Business report, agreeing to a range of measures including the electronic facility, www.business.gov.au |
|
| |
Announcement that departments' information technology infrastructure will be outsourced to the private sector. |
Media
release, Outsourcing
of Information Technology infrastructure,
Minister for Finance, |
| July 1997 |
First Australian Workplace Agreement in the APS. |
The
|
| |
Launch of Centrelink, a statutory authority that provides customer services on behalf of several government agencies (a significant example of split between purchaser and provider of services). |
Commonwealth
Service Delivery Act 1997. |
| |
First Certified Agreements in the APS (agreements at department or agency level)Public Service and Merit Protection Commission. |
|
| |
Commitment that all appropriate government services will be Internet-deliverable by 2001. |
Media
release, OGIT
to play leading role bringing Australia online,
Minister for Finance and Administration, |
| |
Announcement of new purchasing arrangements, including the establishment of a new Purchasing Advisory and Complaints Service. |
Media
release, Government
purchasing: a better deal for business,
Minister for Finance and Administration and Minister for Industry,
Science and Tourism, Media
release, New
Purchasing Advisory and Complaints Service,
Minister for Finance and Administration, |
| 1998 |
Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 is passed, providing for the publication of:
|
|
| |
Package of new financial management legislation comes into effect: |
|
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Announcement that employment services will be contracted out to a range of organisations (to be known as the Job Network). |
Media
release, New
Job Network to replace the CES , Minister for Education, Training and Youth
Affairs, |
| March 1998 |
Regulations are introduced into Parliament requiring the Public Service Commissioner to present an annual State of the Service Report to Parliament. |
Regulation 12 of the Public Service Regulations. |
| |
First fully audited accrual financial statements for the Commonwealth. |
Media
release, Milestone
reached in shift to accrual-based budget, |
| April 1998 |
Productivity Commission established as the Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation. |
|
| May 1998 |
New procurement guidelines provide 'core policies and principles intended to strike a balance between prescription and empowerment so as to encourage agencies to obtain the best value from procurement, on a whole of life basis'. |
Procurement Guidelinescore policies and principles , Department of Finance and Administration, 1998. |
| |
Commonwealth's policy of non-insurance is replaced with a policy of self-insurance, providing more incentive to manage risk. |
Media
release, Responsible
Risk Management for the Commonwealth Government,
Minister for Finance and Administration, |
| |
Business Entry Point is launched (an electronic information and transaction facility for businesses). |
|
| |
Launch of a booklet outlining the Government's expectations of the APS in areas such as customer focus, agreement making and performance measurement. |
APS Reform: Building on Good Practice, Public Service and Merit Protection Commission, 1998. |
| |
Remuneration Tribunal determines a new approach to setting the remuneration levels for departmental secretaries which includes provision for an annual performance bonus, to become available during 1999-00 (the Prime Minister to make a recommendation to the Tribunal on the performance of a secretary after considering a report prepared by the Secretary to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Public Service Commissioner). |
|
| 11 May 1999 |
First accrual Budget delivered (an agency is funded for an agreed price for its outputs, including non-cash items such as depreciation). The accrual budgeting framework includes the introduction of the Capital Use Charge and the Agency Banking Incentive Scheme. The first requires agencies to include the costs to their operations of capital use; the second requires agencies to conduct their own banking and manage their annual appropriations. |
Media
release,
First accrual-based Budget in 1999,
Minister for Finance and Administration, |
| 19 May 1999 |
Senior Executive Leadership Capability Framework, prioritises:
|
Media release, Launch of the Senior Executive Leadership Capability Framework, Canberra, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service,19 May 1999. |
| |
Agencies able to operate bank accounts with private sector banks, opening the Reserve Bank of Australia to competition. |
Media
release, Government
to open its transactional banking to competition,
Minister for Finance and Administration, |
| |
Dismissal of Paul Barratt (Secretary of Defence) upheld by the Federal Court:
|
|
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SES selection changed to be based on the Senior Executive Leadership Capability Framework. |
PSMPC
Circular 1999/11, |
| |
Public Service Act 1999 and Parliamentary Service Act 1999 take effect, establishing the separation of parliamentary departments from public service departments and enshrining a range of features, including:
The Act also replaces the Management Advisory Board with the Management Advisory Committee. |
|
| 9 May 2000 |
The Department of Finance and Administration and the Office of Asset Sales and Information Technology Outsourcing to jointly implement the market testing of Commonwealth activities and services, commencing with corporate services. |
Media
release, 2000-01 Budget: Government
initiative in competitive tendering & contracting in the
Australian Public Sector, Minister
for Finance and Administration, |
| June 2001 |
Senate agrees to a motion requiring all APS agencies to report twice a year on contracts greater than $100 000 in value, indicating the value of the contract, the person or organisation with which the contract was made, and whether any contract provisions or related matters include any confidentiality restrictions. |
Senate
Debates, |
| November 2001 |
Public Sector and Merit Protection Commission releases its State of the Service Statistical Bulletin for 200001, which shows that during the 200001 financial year the proportion of women in the public service reached 50 per cent for the first time in its history. The same bulletin shows that the long-term decline in the total number of public servants has halted. |
State of the Service Statistical |