The Public Service

Traditional Westminster Public Service

• Efficiently administer the Government’s policy & legislation

• Develop & administer delegated legislation

• Provide “frank & fearless” advice to Ministers

Traditional Westminster Public Service

According to Westminster tradition, the public service should be permanent, neutral and anonymous

It was expected to be…• Subordinate and loyal to the government• Politically neutral • Provide impartial and provide an

anonymous frank and fearless advice

Traditional Westminster Public Service

The public service is governed by the Public Service Act. Positions in the public service are permanent and promotion is based on merit

The public service is a bureaucracy. It’s a structure is based on Max Weber’s principles of bureaucracy

Max Weber’s Principles of Bureaucracy

1. specification of jobs with detailed rights, obligations, responsibilities, scope of authority

2. system of supervision and subordination 3. unity of command 4. extensive use of written documents 5. training in job requirements and skills 6. application of consistent and complete rules

(company manual) 7. assign work and hire personnel based on

competence and experience

Criticisms of the Traditional Public Service

• Administratively inefficient• Remote and out of touch from the

community• Too powerful• Lacking accountability

The last two points are serious because the public service is an unelected part of the government

Which criticism of the Public Service is highlighted by this cartoon?

DISCUSS

Recent Reforms to the Public Service

Reforms since the 1980s have aimed at…

• Reducing costs (leaner and more efficient - downsizing)• Creating new management styles (modelled on private

business practice) – Senior Executive Service created to enable Government to compete with business for the best managers.

• Establishing new methods of accountability

An important reform was the increased employment of political advisers to supplement the public service

Leaner and Meaner Reforms

In the first two years of the Howard government 23,700 positions were cut, a reduction of 16%

Many public servants functions were contracting out to the private sector (CES abolished and the function of finding jobs for unemployed people was contract to private firms). The administration of immigration detention centres is carried out by a private firm

New Management Styles

In the past senior positions were permanent. Now senior positions (SES) are contract based

Management skills are emphasised

Public service staff on contract no longer have the security of employment (tenure) that traditional public servants have always enjoyed. This is believed to make them more efficient and accountable

New Administrative Law

All these reforms are referred to as New Administrative Law

They are a major departure from the traditional model of Westminster public service

Other changes include an ombudsman (to whom citizens can complain), the Freedom of Information Act (which allow citizens to apply to see records), and various tribunals is aimed at dispute resolution

These all aim to bring the public service closer to the people and more accountable

Australian Public Service Act 1997

The above legislation replaces the original Public Service Act 1922. Features of the new act include…

• Department based management (instead of central) and• Replacement of tenure for senior employees with contract

based employment• Whistleblower protection – to protect public service

employees who blow the whistle on inefficient or corrupt practices

• A code of conduct – importantly this refers to public servants being required to follow “reasonable direction” but makes no reference to providing “frank and fearless” advice. Critics argue that this makes the public service more political

• More direct prime ministerial control over the public service

Australian Public Service Act 1997

The new Act means that the public service is run more like a private business than a traditional Westminster public service

Today’s public service is more accountable to the government of the day. Previously accountability was to the Commonwealth, not the party in power

It is easy for the government to hire and fire senior officials, reducing their capacity to give frank and fearless advice.

It is argued that many of the reforms politicise the public service when it is traditionally assumed to be apolitical

Costs and Benefits of Reform

Benefits• More expert advice• More cost efficient• Better public access to

complaints and disputes procedures

• Protection for whistleblowers

Costs• Damage to the ethos of

community service• Lower quality advice• Weakening of the

Westminster chain of accountability

• Ministers seek to blame department heads (reducing individual ministerial accountability)

Political Advisors

Political advisers are and influential and controversial aspect of the reforms

In 2003 there were 370 advisers, 37 in the office of the Prime Minister alone

Political advisers help develop policy and strategies that fit the government’s overall direction

Some advisers to liaise between the public service department and the Minister, and thus become a link in the chain of accountability that has no place in a traditional Westminster system

Political Advisors

Political advisers blur the traditional link of accountability between the Department and the Minister

They are neither ministers nor public service employees Their position between the Minister and the public service department means that ministers can blame the adviser for not receiving good advice

In this sense political advisers are a kind of “shock absorber” – they can be made to take the blame for problems and their removal means that “something has been done” - but the Minister has survived

Political Advisors

Problems with advisers…

• Ministers can hide behind political advisers• Advisers can act in the minister’s name but the

Minister can avoid responsibility• Advisers disrupt the accountability processes• They are “a black hole of the core executive” into

which responsibility disappears – they place the actions of ministers beyond the scrutiny of Parliament

Traditional and New Model Public Service Compared - characteristics

Traditional• Apolitical and neutral• Loyalty to the system of

government provides frank and fearless advice

• Permanent employment• Bureaucratic and merit

based• Accountable through

Westminster chain accountability

New model• Loyal to Minister and

government (leads to accusation of “politicisation”)

• Code of conduct• Whistleblower protection• Contract employment• Contracting out functions• Accountable directly to

“clients”

Traditional and New Model Public Service Compared - strengths

Traditional• Predictable decision-

making• Capable of giving

unpopular advice because of tenure

• Department based expertise –

• “Serving the public” ethos

New model• Flexible• Skills transferable

between departments• “Efficiency” ethos

Traditional and New Model Public Service Compared - weaknesses

Traditional• Overly bureaucratic & inflexible• Narrow background and

experience of public servants• Tendency for “empire building”• Distrust between public service

in government (Whitlam and the Public Service

• Declining effectiveness of Minister based accountability

New model• Subservient to ministers and

overly political• Incapable of giving frank and

fearless advice because of contract employment

• Contracting out of functions may mean reduced public service standards (contracted private companies are profit driven not service driven)

Max Moore-Wilton was Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from the late nineties until 2002. He was given the task of

implementing many of the reforms discussed in this presentation. This cartoon presents a view about the impact of these reforms. Max Moore-

Wilton was nicknamed “Max the Axe” DISCUSS

Future Reforms

• Restore the traditional independence of the public service and protect senior public servants through five-year contracts (they could thus give good advice without fear of dismissal)

• All instructions between ministers and political advisers should be written, thereby creating a paper trial that may be audited in the future

• Create code of conduct for political advisers and regulate their behaviour

Former Secretary of the Department of Immigration, Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), Bill Farmer “taking the blame” for the problems of the Department. His removal

helps save the Minister, Amanda Vanstone, from taking responsibility