Public Service Commission should take 'more authoritative role': APS capability review

But in order to cement its future, the agency responsible for the workforce and direction of the public service urgently needs to fix its own staffing issues, including high turnover and a lack of workforce planning, the review found.

The call for more "heft" from the commission came as robodebt royal commissioner Catherine Holmes recommended the head of the public service be given improved powers to inquire into and discipline former agency heads.

The public service commission is the first agency under the microscope in a pilot of the capability reviews, which were discontinued in 2016 after causing some controversy.

The report cards made bold assessments throughout the 2010s, including that Treasury was "closed to external experience and expertise", and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was "seen as too detached from the work of the APS as a whole".

Led by Adjunct Professor Carmel McGregor, a former senior public servant, and Defence deputy secretary Justine Greig, the review found stakeholders "want the commission to consistently assert its leadership and exercise more authority and influence".

"Many stakeholders want to see the commission use the impressive data and longitudinal evidence it holds to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement, and to push improvements by holding agencies to account for their performance," the review said.

"Stakeholders would welcome this more assertive approach."

The review highlighted the commission's role in mobilising a surge workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, to manage programs such as JobKeeper and pandemic leave disaster payments, as evidence of its leadership potential.

But internal capability issues caused by rapid turnover, an unrealistic list of priorities and a problematic funding model, were holding the agency back.

"They've got a lot of work to do internally," Prof McGregor said.

"There's been high levels of turnover, loss of expertise and some of that predates the former commissioner, [there's] all sorts of reasons why that has occurred.

"And it's hard to get the right people, every agency is struggling, but they have a significant challenge.

"We're quite plain about that."

Most staff applying for recruitment rounds conducted during the review were from within the commission. But it is also losing experienced candidates, who are looking elsewhere as budget restraints rule out promotions.

A sprawling list of more than 130 priorities for the 2022-23 financial year showed a lack of focus in the face of a "problematic" funding model.

That model has left the commission reliant on a "patchwork" of memorandums of understanding and fee for service arrangements with agencies, a 2019 external review found.

"Considering the magnitude of priorities and limited funding, the commission cannot realistically appropriately resource each priority," Prof McGregor and Ms Greig found, urging the agency to identify and fund the most pressing tasks.

Prof McGregor said the commission had extensive data and information on the federal public service, such as the State of the Service report and census data, but its use of this to identify opportunities for improvement and direction had been "patchy".

The review urged the commission to leverage "strong support" from the government to secure its future: "It is time to embrace this opportunity, as there has not always been such strong support for the commission and its commissioner."

"They should seize the moment," Prof McGregor added.

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Former public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs, who held the role between 2004 and 2009, said there was now "a stronger preparedness for leadership from the centre" of the APS.

"When I was there, there wasn't a lot of interest in that," she said.

"But over time, as resources have become stressed and issues have emerged and problems have emerged, I think people better understand these days that a solid, independent public service is what we need."

The report card praised the public service commission for its contribution to agency workforce plans and advice on "complex and sensitive" workforce matters, its role in APS-wide pay and conditions bargaining and the training academy it runs.

Former commissioner Peter Woolcott was also commended for his relationship-building with ministers, as Prof Mcgregor and Ms Greig noted a challenge ahead for "the whole of the commission to move to a more proactive role to support the minister".

Responding to the review, Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer said he was pleased it "recognised the commission's strengths in policy expertise and advice in many areas, and implementation of initiatives to support APS capability and integrity in recent years".

"The report provides the commission with a strong foundation to build on our strengths and to develop our organisational capability," Dr de Brouwer wrote in his response.

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