Partnership and Politicisation: New Relations for Senior Executives in the NT

Despite substantial evidence to the contrary, claims that the increasing emphasis on performance-based contracts and other changes in tenure arrangements for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and other senior executives will inevitably lead to 'politicisation' of the public sector persist. Those claims were particularly shrill during discussions of the new Commonwealth Public Services Bill in 1997 and have resurfaced in more recent commentaries. This paper argues that the claims have not been substantiated after more than a decade of experience in other jurisdictions; and that, in fact, the relationship between governments and their senior employees is more robust and honest, and therefore more appropriate to the times, than the critics would have us believe. While the argument is based on the Northern Territory experience, its application in other jurisdictions is also addressed.     

Two Models of Contemporary Public Service Wage Determination in Australia

Rather than taking Louise Thornthwaite and Robyn Hollander (AJPA June 1998) to task, I need to chide them gently for failing to acknowledge two other jurisdictions in Australia – the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Had they canvassed the Northern Territory's experience, they may well have concluded that there are in fact three models of public sector wage determination, not two. They may have also concluded that the Northern Territory's rather unique adaptation of the federal system under the Workplace Relations Act represents something more than an approach dictated by its relatively small size and that it arguably represents the best of both the other models. May I suggest that Thornthwaite and Hollander, or others, could usefully explore the question as to whether the approaches adopted by the various jurisdictions have produced worthwhile results for both employers and employees.