Response to Peter Shergold

Andrew Podger wrote an article in the June 2007 AJPA entitled ‘What Really Happens: Department Secretary Appointments, Contracts and Performance Pay in the Australian Public Service’. Dr Peter Shergold replied to his criticisms in the September issue of AJPA. This short response from Podger is the final rejoinder. In a second paper following this rejoinder the present Australian Public Service Commissioner comments on public service independence today.     

Book Reviews

The State, Business, and Industrial Change in Canada. By MICHAEL ATKINSON and WILLIAM D. COLEMAN.
Ethics in the British Civil Service. By RICHARD A. CHAPMAN.
Head of the Civil Service: A Study of Sir Warren Fisher. By EUNAN O'HALPIN.
The Ethics of Public Service: Resolving Moral Dilemmas in Public Organizations. By KATHRYN G. DENHARDT.
White House Ethics: The History of the Politics of Conflict of Interest Regulation. By ROBERT N. ROBERTS.
Maori, Pakeha and Democracy. By RICHARD MULGAN.
The Gatekeepers: Comparative Immigration Policy. Edited by MICHAEL C. LEMAY.
Perestroika Annual: Volume 2. Edited by ABEL G. AGANBEGYAN.     

DISCUSSION ON PAPERS BY Mr JACOBS AND Ms McCLELLAND

Speakers included Mr E. Matthews (Tasmanian Public Service Board), Mr L. Cleland (Australian Archives), Dr E. W. Russell (Victorian Public Service Board), Mr B. Rope (Commonwealth Public Service Board) and Mr L. Laing (Commonwealth Attorney General's Department). There was considerable debate about the use of work measurement techniques in efficiency audits. Some speakers argued that management review programs are best seen as concerned with broad indicators of efficiency and effectiveness, especially at the higher levels of the organization, and that there were many troubles about the use of work measurement techniques. Some Public Service Boards were said to have reservations about these techniques in the context of efficiency reviews.     

A Call to Action—The Essential Role of Advocacy

Editor's Note: The Perspectives featured in this issue of Public Administration Review were adapted from May 2016 commencement addresses: Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, spoke on the 12th at Arizona State University's College of Public Service and Community Solutions; Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Leader in the United States House of Representatives spoke on the 7th at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service; and Tommy Thompson, the former Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health & Human Services, spoke on the 15th at the University of Wisconsin's La Follette School of Public Affairs. These Perspectives reaffirm the highest principles of American public administration: that by and large, government is NOT the problem, and quite often indeed holds the solution; that effective and helpful public policy depends on informed expert opinion and research; and that those who enter public service should do so with a commitment to the notion that America best fulfills its promise when we seek the well‐being of all people, including the least fortunate. We chose these messages from among a wealth of commencement speeches because while they come from leaders with quite different political views, background, and experience, taken together they offer a coherent and inspiring call to public service. Dan Feldman, Perspective and Commentary Editor     

British intelligence in the twentieth century

SIR STEPHEN LANDER, the Director-General of the Security Service, describes his Service's approach to the management of its archives which is based on its obligations under the 1958 Public Record Act. In this article, he indicates the quantity and type of records held by the Service and, illustrating with some examples, explains his Service's current file retention and release policies. The systematic programme of file releases to the Public Records Office, begun by the Security Service in 1997, has resulted in a considerable amount of intelligence archive material being placed in the public domain.     

New Public Management and ‘Photocopy’ Bargaining in the Australian Public Service

The industrial relations policy of the Federal Coalition Government is to encourage industrial bargaining to occur at the enterprise or individual level, free from ‘outside’ influences. While it encourages devolved bargaining at the agency and individual level within the Public Service (Australian Public Service) this policy creates tensions with its role as a centralized policy maker, economic manager and employer of the APS workforce. It also conflicts with the APS' adoption of New Public Management. In practice, the government retains considerable centralised control over agency bargaining outcomes, which is a de facto method of pattern bargaining. By analysing the substantive outcomes from nine APS agency level certified agreements (hours of work, pay and leave entitlements), the article discusses whether this one size fits all' model is evidence of an appreciation that public sector industrial relations is separate and distinct from private sector industrial relations, or another example of duplicity in the federal coalition government's ideology driven approach to industrial relations.     

From Rhetoric to Blueprint: The Moran Review as a Concerted,Comprehensive and Emergent Strategy for Public Service Reform

On 3 September 2009, Prime Minister Rudd announced a six‐month Review of Australian Government Administration. He appointed an Advisory Group chaired by Terry Moran, Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to prepare a discussion paper, oversee a benchmarking study and consultations, and craft a blueprint to reform the Australian Public Service (APS) in order to deal with future governance challenges. The vision is to develop a forward‐looking, innovative, collaborative, citizen‐focused, agile, informed and highly‐skilled APS to advise and deliver policy and services for government. Ahead of the Game, a comprehensive Blueprint for action, was released on 29 March 2010. This article provides a high‐level review of motivations and process for the Moran Review, an overview of the Blueprint, an assessment of the strategy and process, and suggestions for moving forward on selected issues.     

The New Public Service Revisited

The New Public Service describes a set of norms and practices that emphasize democracy and citizenship as the basis for public administration theory and practice. This article revisits some of the core arguments of the New Public Service and examines how they have been practiced and studied over the past 15 years. The authors conclude that neither the principles of the New Public Service nor those of the New Public Management have become a dominant paradigm, but the New Public Service, and ideas and practices consistent with its ideals, have become increasingly evident in public administration scholarship and practice.     

The Future of the Public Service Workforce: A Dialogue

It has been widely suggested that public service delivery of the future will be different to that of today. Added to this, we are currently witnessing significant changes in terms of the nature of work. Taken together these developments signal that we will see transformation in terms of the role of public servants and the public service workforce. Against this background, this paper presents a dialogue on the future of the public service workforce between Helen Dickinson and Helen Sullivan of the Melbourne School of Government, University of Melbourne and Graeme Head, New South Wales Public Service Commissioner. This paper offers insights from academics actively engaged in teaching the future public service workforce and a public service commissioner actively working to make a reality of a vision of the future.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
C hristopher C. H ood , The Tools of Government: Public Policy and Politics
G erald C aiden and H einrich S iedentopf (eds), Strategies for Administrative Reform
D avid H eald , Public Expenditure
Equality in Diversity: Fifty Years of the Commonwealth Grants Commission , Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Bruce Mccallum , The Public Service Manager: An Introduction to Personnel Management in the Australian Public Service R. J. K. Chapman and Michael Wood , Australian Local Government Kosmas Tsokhas , A Class Apart? Businessmen and Australian Politics 1960–1980 Andrew Kakabadse and Suresh Mukhi (eds), The Future of Management Education Jonathan Boston , Incomes Policy in New Zealand: 1968–1984, Wellington, Victorian University Press for the Institute of Policy Studies David Dery , Problem Definition in Policy Analysis     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
D. C. PEARCE, Commonwealth Administrative Law
BERNARD WILLIAMS et al, Politics, Ethics and Public Service.
JACQUELINE GOODNOW AND CAROLE PATEMAN (eds) Women, Social Science and Public Policy
D. C. ROW AT (ed), The Making of the Federal Access Act: A Case Study of Policy-Making in Canada     

Maltese Administrative History, with Some Australian Connections

The Maltese Public Service 1800–1940: The Administrative Politics of a Micro-State GA PIROTTA (Msida (Malta), Mireva Publications, 1996, 487 pp.).     

Public Service Renewal: Clues from the Commonwealth

Towards a Best Practice Australian Public Service. Discussion Paper issued by Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, Hon Peter Reith. Canberra: AGPS, November 1996.     

Public Enterprise as an Instrument of Development

This is a paper presented on 6th October, 1966 by the author at the tenth session of the Working Party on Economic Development and Planning, United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), which was organized by ECAFE with the co-operation of the United Nations Public Administration Branch and held in Bangkok, Thailand, 3-10 October, 1966. The author is the Head of the United Nations Public Administration Branch and concurrently the Senior Deputy Director of the Bureau of Technical Assistance Operations. The views expressed herewith are the views of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations.     

What Really Happens: Department Secretary Appointments,Contracts and Performance Pay in the Australian Public Service

This account of the practice in the Australian Public Service (APS) for appointing department secretaries, using contracts and rewarding for performance, is based on my own experience in being appointed, reappointed and not reappointed, and in receiving and not receiving performance pay. It also draws on my experience as Public Service Commissioner in assisting with appointments and performance pay of secretaries. I also discuss weaknesses in the current system, and the drift to ‘politicisation’. I was first appointed as a department secretary at the end of 1993 after 25 years in the APS including 15 years in the Senior Executive Service (SES) in three different portfolios (Social Security, Finance and Defence). I was secretary of three different departments (Administrative Services, Housing, and Health, some of which went through changes in name and responsibilities during my tenure) before being appointed as Public Service Commissioner from the beginning of 2002. I retired from the APS in June 2005.     

新公共管理：反思、批判与超越——兼评新公共服务理论

通过采用企业化政府的理念,新公共管理提高了效率,但也导致了公共性、公平、责任、价值诉求等公共管理价值的缺失.通过对新公共管理的反思和批判以及对新公共服务的理论基础、原则和内容的介绍,说明新公共服务在理论基础、价值选择、政府责任、公民精神方面不仅可以弥补和纠正新公共管理的偏颇,并可以替代新公共管理成为公共管理的发展趋势.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Profiles of Government Administration in Asia JOHN HALLIGAN and MARK TURNER for the Australian Public Service Commission (Canberra, AGPS, 1995, 179pp)
Profiles of Government Administration in Asia JOHN HALLIGAN and MARK TURNER for the Australian Public Service Commission (Canberra, AGPS, 1995, 179PP)
Globalization and the ASEAN Public Sector SIRAJUDDIN H SALLEH and LEDIVINA V CARIO (eds) (Kuala Lumpur, Asian and Pacific Development Centre, 1995, 433pp)
The Struggle for Australian Industrial Relations B DABSCHECK
Gender, Politics and Citizenship in the 1990s BARBARA SULLIVAN and GILLIAN WHITEHOUSE (eds)
Tunnel Vision: The Failure of Political Imagination JAMES WALTER
Postmodern Public Administration: Towards Discourse CHARLES J. FOX and HUGH T MILLER
Postmodern Revisionings of the Political ANNA YEATMAN
Henry Mayer. Mayer on the Media: Issues and Arguments RODNEY TIFFEN (ed.)     

THE CAREER SERVICE IN THE 1980s: WHAT ARE THE FACTS?

This paper seeks to provide statistics on how the career service has developed within Commonwealth Government administration over the past decade or so. On the basis of trends in these data some speculations are offered on how the career service might look in the 1980s. The views expressed are speculations, not forecasts. In Commonwealth administration, the career service concept has by and large been held to embrace staff employed in the Commonwealth Public Service (CPS) under the Public Service Act, particularly permanent staff. While it is possible to debate the extent of the career service, this paper will confine itself to full-time permanent, temporary and exempt staff of the CPS, employed under the Public Service Act. It thus excludes staff employed under other Acts, although the opportunities for movement of CPS staff to statutory authorities and back again should not be overlooked.     

THE FORGOTTEN ROYAL COMMISSION: PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The publication Public Service Inquiries in Australia edited by R.F.I Smith and Patrick Weller (1978) concentrated on the wave of inquiries that swept Australia in the 1970s with most attention being given to the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration (RCAGA). While the focus of the book was on contemporary developments, Roger Wettenhall's chapter 2 outlined "A Brief History of Public Service Inquiries" so as "to set the present generation of inquiries more firmly in a historical context" (1978, p.15).