IPAA seeks to bridge gap for the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service

The Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) has made a contribution to the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service that aims to bridge a significant gap in the existing evidence base on Australian Public Service Reform.

Australian Public Service Reform: Learning from the past and building for the future was prepared on IPAA’s behalf by Professor Mark Evans, Director of the Institute for Government and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra, and includes a foreword by IPAA National President, Professor Peter Shergold AC.

Professor Shergold said that he hoped this contribution by IPAA would assist members of the Independent Panel in their deliberations and in time, “lead to the successful transformation of the APS so that it can continue making a difference for all Australians well into the future”.

The paper pulls together the collective wisdom of a diverse array of former public servants who have intimate, first-hand knowledge and experience of the various review processes of the Australian Public Service spanning the past four decades.

Eighteen former public servants responded to four pivotal survey questions:

1. Are there particular ingredients of a high-quality APS review that make a difference to the outcome?
2. What past reviews have mattered and why? And, which reviews have been the most significant in terms of the negative impact on APS practices?
3. What are the key lessons that can be drawn from past review processes for the 2018 APS Review?
4. What key themes required focused consideration in the 2018–19 APS Review and are fundamental to building an APS for the future?

Personal vignettes, provided by Lynelle Briggs AO, Emeritus Professor Meredith Edwards AM, John Halligan, and Ann Sherry AO, serve to enrich the paper’s major themes and findings.

Download IPAA’s submission.