Speech
Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration
Address to senior leaders of the Australian Public Service
30 March 2010
Terry Moran AO
Chair of the Advisory Group on Reform of Australian Government Administration
Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
It is a great pleasure to be here to mark the release of Ahead of the Game: a Blueprint for Reform of Australian Government Administration.
This Blueprint sets out what I believe is an ambitious and comprehensive reform agenda for the Australian Public Service, through a focus on citizens, in the broadest sense, and our own people.
It is fitting that we, the senior leaders of the Australian Public Service, come together today to consider its implications.
The success of every reform measure outlined in the Blueprint will be determined by our ability to steer our agencies through the challenges of the future. If we succeed I believe that the APS will be the best in the world.
It is incumbent on us all to understand where, and how, we can do better.
As the Chair of the Advisory Group that prepared the Blueprint, I want to thank my colleagues on the panel – who are named on page four – for their dedication to building a better APS.
We were not, of course, alone in this endeavour – for our objective is widely shared within the Service and across the nation.
Proof of that can be found in the outstanding level of engagement in the consultation process we initiated.
Over six months, the Advisory Group received more than 200 written submissions and 800 contributions from four online forums.
We have heard the views of state, territory and local governments, academia, unions, business groups and the not-for-profit sector.
We convened six forums involving more than 150 Commonwealth public servants.
And the discussion document on APS reform we released has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.
To my mind, the interest among public servants in the review, the quality of their contributions to it, and the great pride they showed in their work, speaks volumes for the state of the Australian Public Service.
As leaders, we should acknowledge and capitalise on the strong commitment to reform already evident in our agencies.
And the conclusions of our Blueprint closely match what public servants at all levels – including many in this room – have told us about the kind of public service you want to see.
Reasons for the Blueprint
Before I set out these conclusions, I will briefly discuss why we launched this reform process and produced this Blueprint.
I do not wish to call the past achievements or the ongoing dedication of the APS into question.
On the contrary, I am proud to serve in an institution which carries our long and distinguished record of service to successive governments.
That proud record owes much to the fact that the APS was born and remains firmly rooted in the Westminster tradition.
Within that tradition, it is our role to provide apolitical advice of the highest quality to our elected leaders; and implement their decisions.
The APS operates in partnership with Ministers. We must be responsive to their individual needs, without straying from the core value of apolitical service.
Ultimately, of course, decision-making responsibility lies with the Minister and the Government, who account to the Australian people through the ballot box.
And on this point I should note that the recommendations in the Blueprint are those of the advisory group; Government is currently considering them and is expected to respond through the Budget process.
There is no denying the importance of the role we undertake – or the importance of performing it at the very highest standard.
We can see the impact of a high performing APS throughout Australian history.
My thoughts turn particularly to the steadiness of the APS throughout the recent Global Financial Crisis, which I’m sure you’ll agree were the stormiest waters this nation has seen for some time.
I know the collective memory in this room stretches a little further back, so I’ll suggest a few more examples from a long list – the superannuation guarantee, the evolution of the Job Network, the expansion of higher education access, and perhaps most importantly, the economic reform agenda of the past two and a half decades, which has made our economy more productive, outward–looking, flexible and resilient.
Those reforms included the float of the dollar, deregulation of the financial system, tariff cuts, privatisation of government enterprises, and taxation reforms.
Why do we want the Government to endorse sweeping reform of the APS when, I believe, it can already be proud of its place among the handful of the world’s best public services?
The answer is at once profoundly simple and challenging.
It is that the times have changed.
The needs and expectations of the Australian people have changed.
And the public service must change with them.
This process of adaptation, of course, is another chapter in a long story.
The APS wouldn’t be the successful institution I’ve described today if successive leaders hadn’t understood the need for change.
From the influx of idealistic and brilliant public servants into Canberra during and at the end of World War Two, to the modernisation drive of Sir Frederick Wheeler in the 1960s, to the Coombs Commission’s agenda for a more responsive, efficient public service, to the devolution reforms of the late 1990s, the APS has reshaped itself to remain focused, relevant – and ahead of the game.
Now, more than a decade later, it must do so again.
It must provide better services delivery for Australian citizens and better policy advice for the Australian government.
And it must renew the commitment to putting people first that has sustained its 109 years of proud service and achievement.
We know that these objectives will have to be pursued in a rapidly changing policy landscape.
The challenges we face as a nation are profound – from climate change, to national security, to shifting global market forces.
It is time for the APS to step up to meet them.
The main points of the Blueprint
Specifically, our Blueprint proposes substantial reform in four areas.
One, it would respond to the worldwide revolution in service delivery driven by advances in information technology and changed community attitudes.
Two, it would strengthen our capacity to provide government with the high–quality policy advice needed to address the pressing challenges of the modern world.
Three, it would ensure that the APS is accountable to the citizen and gives value to the taxpayer.
And four, in order to achieve these outcomes for citizens, it advocates significant change to the people and culture of the APS.
We must invest more in our own people – in their learning and development, performance management and career fulfilment.
We need to break down the walls that divide agencies from each other and from the community at large.
We need to reset the balance between the centre and the frontline, so that we have both the flexibility to respond to the myriad of challenges we face; and the strength that comes from unity of vision and values.
Finally – and of critical importance to the APS and to the people in this room – we need to invest in leadership.
After all, it is people who must embrace reform.
And it is leaders who must inspire them to do so.
These four areas for reform will not be unfamiliar to you – because public servants have known for a long time that we need to do better on these fronts.
When asked what they thought the APS should focus on in the next five years in the State of the Service report, SES employees cited two clear priorities.
They said the APS needed leaders who looked outward to understand and address the needs of citizens and of government.
Secondly, they called for agencies to work together more effectively so that they produced the highest–quality service delivery and policy advice.
Similarly, the many public servants who contributed to our review called for a greater focus on staff development and retention, and for greater collaboration among agencies and with organisations and people outside the APS.
Let me address in turn our responses to the demand for change on the four fronts I have outlined.
And let me emphasise that this is a comprehensive and sweeping package.
The Advisory Group was not asked by the Prime Minister to tinker at the margins – we were asked for a bold vision and a clear path forward.
We know we face a complex and multi–faceted challenge.
Failure on any one front could jeopardise the prospects of success in all others.
So the measures I outline are numerous, and they are ambitious – but we could not meet our mandate with a piecemeal proposal.
Better services for citizens
It is fitting to turn firstly to the goal of better services for citizens – after all, this is the criterion against which our performance will be judged by the Australian people.
Services in health, welfare, education, transport and justice are where most Australians are most likely to have direct contact with government.
Commonwealth Human Services agencies alone receive 220,000 phone calls, have 361,000 face–to–face contacts and 70,000 online transactions every day.
So we have to get the relationship right.
But too many Australians remain confused and frustrated by the task of identifying and using services that insist on multiple forms, interviews and points of contact with the customer.
Too many service delivery agencies still do not link their operations with those of other agencies in order to deliver a better product.
Too many countries – including Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand – have outpaced us, and are reaping the benefits.
More than a third of submissions to the Blueprint – especially those from service delivery agencies, community sector groups and individuals – urged the APS to follow their lead, and establish a truly citizen–centred approach to service delivery.
I am heartened that change is already under way.
By the end of this year, all Human Services agencies will have a single number and website for accessing their services.
And at least 20 government offices around Australia will locate services provided by Centrelink, Medicare, the Child Support Agency and other agencies in the one place.
This means that citizens will be able to visit one office or call one number, and go straight to the right person, rather than having to navigate through layers of bureaucracy.
It is a good start, but we need to go much further.
Accordingly, the Blueprint Group proposes three main reforms in the area of service delivery.
Firstly, department Secretaries would develop a strategy to simplify services for citizens throughout all government operations.
The strategy would also consider how to deliver more services in partnership with state and local governments, and with the private and community sectors. And it would develop a life events approach to service delivery, to be implemented over time.
To give an example of a life events approach, a new mother would register with just one service point in order to start receiving maternity leave payments and visits from a community midwife.
The service would also register her baby’s birth and inform her by email or text message about immunisation needs, support for new parents and childcare places in her local area.
She would be guided through all her interactions with all levels of government, only asked to explain her problem once, and given one clear solution.
Linking people to services in this manner is a critical step – but it’s not enough.
We’ve got to link them to right services– and that takes understanding of what our citizens expect, want and value.
Accordingly, the Blueprint recommends the establishment of a regular national survey that captures citizens’ views on government services, programs and laws.
Such a survey – perhaps modelled on Canada’s excellent Citizens First Survey – would enable us to improve front&ndashline service delivery by discovering what does and doesn’t work and adjusting our services and programs accordingly.
And survey results will be published, so that citizens can track our performance.
Finally, the Blueprint recommends that government does not simply consult citizens but invites them to collaborate in the design of services and of policy.
Such a change, which is being trialled in many advanced democracies, is built on the premise that citizen engagement in service and policy design is not only the right thing to do but will provide a rich new source of ideas to government.
The Blueprint proposes that we tap these ideas by establishing formal policy networks with academia, think tanks and private and community sector experts.
And, secondly, that we use information technology to open up significantly more government data bases – subject to privacy constraints – so that citizens can use them in new and inventive ways for public benefit.
The Government 2.0 Taskforce recently blazed a trail in this field when it invited citizens to take information from a range of formerly closed government data bases, mix it with other data, and create prototypes of new online services.
Among the many responses, one was a service that enabled people to report damaged local amenities and public facilities.
It was called – in standard public service jargon – It’s Buggered Mate.
We might rename it if we ever take it up, but the idea that citizens tell us how to improve public facilities is a good one, and could be applied more widely.
For example, in 2008 the City of Melbourne published its draft city plan online and invited people to amend it by offering their own views on where the city should go.
I see such innovations as a great opportunity for the public service – to deepen its connection with citizens, and to play a part in reinvigorating the democratic process.
People have shown that they are hungry for information that helps them – and their governments – make smarter decisions, every day.
They are already using the internet to access an unprecedented level of information on government services.
For example, when it launched in January, the government’s My School website got nine million hits on its first day.
Over time, the government intends to expand such services to universities and hospitals and other areas – and it is right to do so. We’re putting citizens in a position to make an informed contribution – and this implies that we’re prepared to put that contribution to good use.
That means ensuring institutions are equipped to take citizen input on board in the design and delivery of better services. Gargantuan head offices are the enemy of responsive service delivery.
In an age when, with a click of a mouse, we can buy the music, the holiday or even the home we want, public services cannot stand aloof from this shift toward more information, choice and personal autonomy. We need to ensure we can respond to these demands at the local level.
And as an increasingly well–educated and informed population ages, citizens will want to know more about the services they’re receiving – so they can help government adapt them to their needs.
Better policy advice on Australia’s toughest challenges
The second area of proposed reform is in the development of high–quality policy advice to government.
This is part of our core business, it directly affects the lives of Australians, and we must do it well.
We must help ministers to make good, rapid decisions with far–reaching implications on the great challenges of our times – the challenges of climate change, of our ageing and growing population, of national security, and of shifting global economic forces.
Challenges – among many others – that cross departmental divides, state lines and, often, national borders.
Challenges that are so complex, and their solutions so contested, that they call for the brightest thinkers and the best advice that the Government can access.
Parts of the APS are very good at providing such advice. I noted before the Government’s swift and successful response to the Global Financial Crisis.
But we have no comprehensive measures for determining policy capacity across all agencies.
What we do know suggests that overall we need to improve.
We need to get better and bolder at delivering big–picture policy advice, not simply suggestions for incremental change.
This advice should be based on evidence, embrace known best practice, and be informed by the relevant public policy literature.
Last year's State of the Service report revealed that nearly half of all APS employees – and nearly three–quarters of SES employees – believe they spend too much time working on reactive measures rather than forward–looking analysis and planning.
And many employees feel that while they are clear about their daily responsibilities, their leaders rarely give them a sense of their agency's long–term strategic direction.
Under our reform proposals, Secretaries would be required to ensure a strong strategic policy capability in their portfolios.
And they would be required to share responsibility for achieving outcomes in priority policy areas such as climate change, national security and Indigenous affairs – areas that cross portfolio lines.
In other words, all Secretaries involved in a particular policy goal would be held collectively accountable for its achievement – including, if necessary, through their performance agreements.
And they must ensure that the unwavering focus of their efforts is the beneficiary – that is, the citizen who uses services and programs we provide.
After all, a challenge in the order of reducing Indigenous disadvantage can’t be met by one government agency alone.
It requires the efforts of a range of agencies working in partnership – and success in establishing that partnership is essential to the achievement of the goal.
I acknowledge that these are heavy responsibilities for you to shoulder.
But I have no intention of shirking my duty as a leader, and I am certain you share my resolve.
And at the same time, the Blueprint would ensure Secretaries would receive more support to develop high–quality policy advice.
A new Strategic Policy Network would share best practice advice throughout the APS.
Cross–agency strategic policy teams will still be needed to work on difficult policy challenges.
And because good ideas must be delivered as well as devised, we would create Implementation Boards within each agency, and a cross–portfolio Policy Implementation Network to share best practice across the public service.
We would also introduce a policy toolkit to provide guidance on the elements that make up the best strategic thinking, including problem definition, data analysis and project management.
As with our other proposed reforms, we plan to produce better policy through greater openness and collaboration across the APS.
We want to give leaders clearer responsibilities, but also better resources so that they can meet them.
A stronger, more unified, outward–looking APS
This leads me to our proposals for workplace reform.
The APS is, ultimately, a network of people, working in a common cause.
The strength of that network is the strength of the APS.
So we cannot deliver the outcomes we want for citizens unless we are prepared to invest in our own people.
Public servants who feel fulfilled in their jobs will be those who are committed to delivering the highest quality services and policy advice – and to creating the more efficient, accountable APS that I shall discuss shortly.
Yet at present, fewer than one in ten agencies have talent management strategies for their best employees.
A mere seven per cent spend more than three percent of their budgets on employee learning and development – a percentage that is common in the private sector.
And nearly half of all agencies spend less than one per cent.
This is a serious problem when, as the Audit Office has reported, the APS struggles to attract and retain the most talented employees.
When our workforce is ageing – three–quarters of Senior Executive Service members are due to retire in the next 10 years.
And when the ageing of the wider Australian population will over time shrink the pool of potential employees, and intensify our battle to lure the best and the brightest.
To succeed in the future, we have to act now.
Accordingly, the Blueprint proposes a major effort to expand and improve learning and development programs.
Secretaries would be required to reaffirm the right and obligation of every APS employee to undertake learning and development every year.
All agencies would be required to contribute funds for training staff in core skills that shape the APS – including strategic policy–making, program implementation, management training and awareness of the APS culture and values.
We propose to expand our training capacity by establishing formal relationships with academic institutions such as the Australia and New Zealand School of Government and the National Security College.
We support mechanisms that would enable employees to obtain diverse career experiences outside their agency and even outside the APS.
We would ask the Australian Public Service Commission to introduce APS–wide training, talent management and recruitment programs – including strategies to attract top–level external recruits.
The Commission would also establish a common framework for wages and conditions as well as consistent work level standards – so that people have clarity around their roles and expectations.
And it would design a performance framework that contained consistent guidelines for dealing with underperformance and introduced 360 degree–style performance assessment – so that employees could provide feedback on their managers as well as vice–versa.
Critically, the Commission would develop a long–term plan for our workforce – how many people we need, in what areas and with what skills.
Such a plan is essential to our future, but under present arrangements, with no central data base and with devolution of staffing decisions to agencies, we cannot produce one.
It is clear, however, that the APS will be asked to take on a new and challenging portfolio of responsibilities.
I, and my predecessors in this office, have long drawn attention to the growing role of Commonwealth agencies in complex service delivery programs.
To succeed in these tasks requires a relentless focus on effectively implementing programs, coupled with the necessary processes, capabilities, and people.
And we must remember that the APS has in the past and will in the future be called on to deliver highly innovative programs at great speed, on a massive scale – such as the Education Revolution, which has put new facilities in almost ten thousands of schools across Australia.
That’s a significant test.
I do not claim that the APS has always answered the test to the standard of excellence which we, as leaders, wish to uphold.
I ask, however, that we have the courage to review our past performance rigorously and fairly.
Where capability gaps exist, they must be remedied.
But lack of capability is not always the problem, or the whole problem, and we should be mindful of that fact.
I refer in particular to the commentary surrounding the home insulation program. I caution us against rushing to judgment on this program, or the role which the APS played in its implementation.
There are a number of complex factors at play which should not be neglected, including the role of regulatory agencies at State and Territory level. Dr Allan Hawke will shortly deliver a report into the program which will improve our understanding.
Looking broadly at the performance of the APS over my time as Secretary, I am convinced that we can plan for and meet the demands which will be placed on us.
Restoring the balance between devolution and unified planning
I recognise, of course, each agency has a unique role and needs different skills and processes.
The advantages of flexibility and autonomy are well known, and they drove the devolution reforms of the 1990s.
But as many submissions to the Blueprint told us, devolution has brought costs as well.
It has created unnecessary duplication of programs and procedures.
In recruitment, for example, all graduate applicants must apply to multiple departments in order to be considered for different graduate programs.
And too many agencies have far too much red tape, often as a result of excessive risk aversion.
Most importantly, devolution has failed to build cohesiveness and unity within the APS.
State of the Service reports tell us that most employees – even at SES level – identify first as employees of their agency rather than of the APS.
As a result, policy responses are often developed in isolation, by officials with departmental blinkers on.
This Blueprint does not plan to re–centralise the APS.
There's no going back to the days when the Public Service Board set every agency’s staffing level, Treasury controlled every expenditure line and the Works Department bought every pen and pencil.
On the contrary, the Blueprint contains precise proposals for empowering frontline staff to make more decisions or tailor them to their local circumstances.
But getting the decision–making balance right between the centre and the frontline is one of the great structural and intellectual challenges facing contemporary government and large organisations of all kinds.
The Advisory Group believes the APS has to restore that balance.
And that demands a strengthened core.
Only an effective centre can marshal the minds and the resources we need to succeed at our toughest policy and service delivery tasks.
Only an influential centre can develop a unified approach to workforce planning and investment in staff.
Only a strong centre can provide the sense of clear directions, high expectations, shared values and common goals that we need to meet the challenges ahead.
The central role of leadership
This brings me to our two most important proposals for leadership change across the APS.
One, we recommend the creation of a new body – the Secretaries Board – to manage, direct and provide stewardship of the whole APS.
And two, we propose a new role for the Australian Public Services Commission to strengthen the efficiency, accountability and unity of the APS, and to lead the reform process in partnership with the Secretaries Board.
The Secretaries Board, comprising all Secretaries and the Australian Public Service Commissioner, would identify strategic priorities, be the preeminent forum for public service debate, and model leadership behaviour for the SES.
The Board would be supported by – and would themselves be members of – a new senior leadership group, the APS 200.
The APS 200 would champion critical projects such as improving service delivery, expanding access to government information and boosting the APS employment of Indigenous Australians and other under–represented groups.
Together, these bodies will enable our leaders to steer the APS on the pathway to reform.
A more efficient, accountable APS
Finally, I turn to the objective of creating an APS that provides accountability to the citizen and value to the taxpayer.
The Australian people expect more from us than high–quality services.
They want efficiency, and they want effectiveness.
And this requires change to the way we do business.
We propose that, for the first time, Secretaries would not only have their roles and responsibilities clarified in the Public Service Act but would have their performance assessed against them.
That would include their performance in the achievement of shared policy outcomes and in the stewardship of the whole APS.
But we recognise that Secretaries need support to make change.
Accordingly, we propose to introduce regular capability reviews of agencies.
These externally–led reviews would collect data on agency performance – data we sorely need – in areas such as strategic policy advice, workforce planning and employee management.
The agency head would then develop a capability improvement plan in partnership with the APSC, with progress against the plan factored into the Secretary's performance agreement.
However, the process would be collaborative, not combative – with the plan determining where change is needed and how to deliver it.
Critically, capability reviews are one of the reforms that seek to create a culture of self–improvement inside the APS, a culture of continuous evaluation and innovation.
They are one of the reforms that seek to produce more efficient and effective agencies over the long term.
Another is centralised workforce planning, which would create significant efficiencies in staff hiring and procurement of training courses.
And we also propose a centralised approach to reducing red tape and streamlining the corporate functions of small agencies, which would also deliver savings.
The advisory group acknowledges that endorsement of this reform package would require initial investment in order to improve training, expand the role of the APSC, and introduce the citizen survey.
A decision on this will be a matter for government – however I would note that the cost will be modest in comparison to the advantages it will yield, including the savings I have identified.
Of course, we cannot expect these advantages to be manifested in full in the immediate future.
Since our reforms propose change not simply to structures and procedures but to practices, attitudes and minds, they will take time to be embedded.
And because many are ambitious – delivering more services through the private sector, to give just one example – it is right that we consult and plan carefully before we proceed.
But I believe these proposals answer the challenge the Prime Minister issued to the APS when he commissioned the Blueprint in September last year.
Conclusion
I have set out today a vision and a plan for the APS.
I ask, in exchange, that you accept the extended responsibilities of senior leaders in a proud and enduring institution.
We must never forget that we are entrusted with the well–being of the Australian people.
And we carry forward the legacy of the remarkable men and women who have served the public through the APS over the past 109 years.
Some of the leaders present will join me in the APS200 forum, which will champion new thinking and project ideas to the Secretaries Board.
But all of us can go back to our desks, and prepare to get ahead of the game.
I ask you to disseminate this report and its key messages, and reflect on ways you can implement them.
As the Blueprint says, the Australian Public Service has served Australia well, and its advice to government has helped to shape the great changes that have built our nation.
You can each help drive the Blueprint’s four key themes that I outlined at the start.
- The first is forging a stronger relationship with citizens through better delivery of services, and through greater involvement of citizens in their government. Remember that supporting the citizen is the goal of what we do. The public, not your own organisation, should be the focus of your work. I ask you to consider all your own programs with this goal in mind – both existing programs and new initiatives.
- The second theme is strengthening the capacity of the public service to provide strategic, big picture policy and delivery advice that addresses our most difficult policy challenges. Your goal should be to think boldly about how to tackle the tough issues. To help achieve this I would like to see you reinvigorate relationships across the public service, with academia, research institutions and private sector experts – and build new relationships.
- The third theme is improving the capability of your staff. I urge you to support the new measures that will be introduced to improve recruitment and training processes. These will help ensure greater mobility and alignment of working conditions across agencies, and a new, more consistent approach to employee performance. By actively demonstrating collaboration and innovation, you will help that culture spread through the APS. Encourage your staff to think creatively, don’t penalise them for it.
- The fourth theme is introducing a stronger focus on efficiency and quality. You can all help ensure that agencies are agile, capable and effective by actively pursuing new techniques and technologies, for example, in areas such as planning and project management. We should back this up with measures to help our people plan, and improve their individual performance.
So today, I ask you to join me in the vanguard of the effort to reinvigorate our organisation.
Above all, I ask you to model the values and ideals of the APS I have outlined today – collegiality, strategic vision, and an unwavering commitment to the wellbeing of the Australian people.
Only then will be the APS that this nation demands and deserves – a public service that is creative in service to Australians and the best in the world and makes the most of the talent, ideas and passion of its people, for the greater good of the whole community.
Thank you.