The Prime Minister has outlined six ‘guideposts’’ he expects the Australian Public Service (APS) to follow if it is to support his Government’s priorities for the future.
Speaking to the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) in Parliament House, Prime Minister, Scott Morrison said the APS needed to “evolve” to serve the Government across multiple, fast-moving policy and implementation challenges.
“Today I want to place six guideposts out there to show the way forward,” Mr Morrison said. “Conventional wisdom needs to be challenged.”
He said Guidepost No. 1 was ‘Respect and Expect’, in which the Ministry respects the experience, professionalism and capability of the APS for its policy advice and implementation skills, and then, having set the policy direction, expects the APS to get on and deliver it.
He said Guidepost No. 2 was based on US President Clinton’s declaration: ‘it’s about the economy, stupid’.
“For us ‘It’s about the implementation’,” Mr Morrison said. “We need a step-change on service delivery.”
He said his third guidepost was ‘Look at the scoreboard’.
“There are three basic questions I would ask you all to consider every day at work,” the PM told his Public Service audience.
“What are you trying to do? How do you know you’re on track to get there? What does it look like when you’ve got there?
“In other words what does success look like, at the start, along the way and at the end?”
He said this would yield the information needed to help inform him and Cabinet so they could make the right decisions.
He said his fourth guidepost was called ‘Look beyond the bubble’.
“There are many highly organised and well-resourced interests in our democracy,” Mr Morrison said. “Yet the vast majority of Australians will never come to Canberra to lobby government.”
He said he wanted the APS to have a ‘laser-like focus’ on serving those quiet Australians.
The PM’s fifth guidepost was named after NSW Rugby League champion Ray Price.
“Ray was everywhere,” Mr Morrison said. “His work rate was unmatched. He could read the play and always stay ahead of the game.
“The APS needs to be the same. It needs to evolve and adapt amidst constant change.”
The Prime Minister named his sixth and final guidepost ‘Honour the Code’.
“It’s about governance and integrity across the Service,” he said. “An APS that is apolitical, merit based and committed to the highest standards of integrity.
“It’s vital that the APS avoid the sort of stale conventional wisdoms and orthodoxies that can infuse all large organisations.”
The full text of the Prime Minister’s address can be accessed at this PS News link.
