| Abstract: | “The Public Utility did not have a formal Appeals Board system in the form which had been adopted by a number of other government organisations in Australia. Over the years, however, the procedure had been established that senior employees who had been superseded could appeal to the Executive Committee.” “A striking feature of civil service mores is an apparently widely-held belief that special protection must be provided in public service not only against political influence in appointments, but also against what is called ‘internal patronage’. By this is meant protection against arbitrariness, nepotism, and favouritism, all alleged in some quarters to be inherently characteristic of the managerial and supervisory ranks of the public service. The present role of the Civil Service Commission as protector of the individual employee in questions of transfer, promotion and salary increments derives from this fear, and from the belief that intervention of an independent authority is necessary to ensure preferment on the basis of merit. “No convincing evidence has been found that any special factors distinguish the public service from other employment in this respect. Consequently, it cannot be concluded that civil servants need special protective machinery which employees outside the public service do not have. Moreover, there is an impressive array of evidence that the procedures and machinery created to prevent internal patronage have imposed upon the public service a very high cost in terms of delay, unfilled positions, poor selection of personnel, and generai frustration of responsible supervisors.” |
