Members of the Australian Public Service (APS) should be transferring and moving between Departments and Agencies far more frequently if the Service is to perform its role adequately according to the Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Heather Smith (pictured).
Speaking to a policy forum hosted by the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) in Canberra, Dr Smith lamented the low numbers of APS staff hopping Agencies, declaring that the APS was losing the battle to advise Ministers and deliver programs and services effectively as a result.
Listing a series of national and international challenges facing the nation, Dr Smith expressed concern at the capability of the APS to rise to the occasion
“As I see it, the APS today is neither structurally-configured, nor culturally aligned to help Government navigate these and other policy challenges,” Dr Smith said.
“With the policy issues we deal with being increasingly integrated and
multidisciplinary in nature, greater mobility within the APS will be essential to fulfilling our role,” she said.
“In fact, how can we be confident that we are providing well-informed and
integrated advice to government on Australia’s place in the world or on the transformation of the Australian economy, if the bulk of the APS has only worked in one Department?”
She said the statistics spoke for themselves.
“Only two per cent of APS staff moved Agencies last year and 72 per cent of APS staff have only ever worked in one Agency.
“This is not a sustainable model for the future.”
Dr Smith used her own experience as a guide for what is required.
“I’m a firm believer in mobility inside and outside the APS, having been a boundary-jumper myself between our domestic and international institutions; in having worked on economic, strategic, foreign and intelligence policy; and now, in having led two Departments at the interface of digital disruption and its impacts on business and citizens,” she said.
“Understanding the connectedness between policy frameworks that guide our
domestic economic interests — markets, institutions, wellbeing — and
frameworks for thinking about Australia’s place in the world — interests,
values, ideology and history — is a challenge for the APS in helping
government position Australia for the future.”
She said today’s APS staff were only the custodians of an organisation that made a real difference to the lives of Australians.
Dr Smith’s speech can be accessed from the IPAA website at this PS News link.
