APS Commissioner to get 'own motion powers' for code of conduct breaches in next stage of public service reform

Senator Gallagher on Wednesday will deliver the first annual statement on the progress of the Albanese government's "ambitious" APS reforms and announce the work, including new own motion powers for the APS Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer to refer serious code breaches that will be rolled out over the next 18 months.

It comes as the public sector still grapples with the aftermath of the damning final report from the robodebt royal commission, and as the investigation into the politically charged correspondence of Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo continues.

The minister, who is also the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Women, said there is more work to do to make the APS "future fit".

"Following the royal commission into the robodebt scheme, the need for reform is stronger than ever," Senator Gallagher said in a statement.

"We need an APS that is fit to serve Australians in the 21st century, but real and lasting change is going to take time."

The Annual Progress Report on APS Reform shows that 10 of the 44 reform initiatives announced last year are complete and have transitioned to business-as-usual in the service. These include the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the completion of an audit of employment, and the creation of an in-house consulting model.

The report states that delivery is underway for 15 of the 44 APS reform initiatives announced last year, including reforms to make the APS a "model employer", as well as the setting up of the APS Surge Reserve workforce and the APS Academy.

Senator Gallagher will unveil the next steps at an event at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.

The Albanese government will now move to give the APS Commissioner new own motion powers to initiate reviews and investigations into code of conduct breaches by current and former agency heads (including secretaries) and APS employees.

READ MORE:

Own motion powers for the commissioner is a recommendation of the 2019 Thodey review that will require legislative change.

Currently, matters have to be referred to the commissioner. In the case of the robodebt referrals, they came from the royal commission in the sealed section of its report. In the case of Mr Pezzullo, it came from the Minister for Home Affairs Clare O'Neil.

There have been 16 referrals to the APSC's code of conduct mechanism, related to the robodebt royal commission findings.

It is understood the minister will highlight leadership problems within the APS and state the case for bolstering integrity measures "coming from the top down."

The government will also roll out a requirement for the Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Glyn Davis and APS Commissioner to conduct a merit-based appointment process for secretary roles. They will be required to publish a secretaries' performance framework and process.

The minister is also expected to outline a path for "better handling" of sustained under-performance of secretaries, including "appropriate" consequences.

The APS will be called on to develop best-practice recruitment and selection options across the service, while there will be a required application of "consistent" hiring practices, the sharing of merit lists will be mandated and strategies created to "maximise the use" of merit lists.

There will also be expectation that the criteria for the next round of the APS Capability Reinvestment Fund will be developed. In the May budget, $18.5 million from the fund was put towards the in-house consulting service as well as boosting First Nations employment within the APS.

The details of the new APS reform agenda comes amid stalled and contentious APS-wide pay bargaining between the Albanese government, the Australian Public Service Commission and the main public sector union the CPSU.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: