Address by Senator John Faulkner
Cabinet Secretary
Special Minister of State
4 December 2008
I am pleased to be able to inform the Senate that the Government is today honouring another of its election commitments. It is an important one; I think it is fundamental to our approach to integrity in government.
I acknowledge that in September last year my colleague Senator Wong, in an excellent speech on Labor’s approach to the Australian Public Service, said: “A Labor Government would require that the Australian Public Service Commissioner provide public ethics advice, as part of its functions.”
The Government, therefore, is establishing an Ethics Advisory Service within the Australian Public Service Commission. Funds for this purpose are being provided in the 2008-09 additional estimates. It will be operational from April next year.
The service will be the key platform within the commission for working with all APS agencies to enhance ethical awareness and decision-making capabilities. As well as providing advice to agencies on specific ethical issues and problems, the service will review and develop publications and advice on ethical issues, establish and maintain an ethics website and a phone line for advice and set up agency networks for the discussion and exchange of views and experiences on ethical issues.
There will be an annual report to Parliament, which will identify and analyse ongoing and emerging ethical trends and issues. I commend this to all senators in the chamber and I hope all senators will acknowledge that this is an important and very long overdue initiative.
The Commissioner will establish a new ethics team in the APSC. It will assist rather than direct. While emphasising the service-wide standards expected of all public servants, the team’s approach will recognise that individual agencies face particular challenges and acknowledge that some agencies already have arrangements in place for providing advice specifically relevant to their circumstances.
The team will assist a network of agencies’ ethics contact officers in responding to ethical issues within agencies. In conjunction with the commissioner, it will also handle queries from agency heads, SES employees and other staff. Although much of its work will be public, the team will be able to handle sensitive issues with appropriate confidentiality when that is required.
I want to place clearly on the record that the Government believes that it and the Australian people are very well served by its public servants, who, with remarkably few exceptions, are honest and hardworking and take extremely seriously the obligations placed on them by the APS Values and the code of conduct set out in the Public Service Act. I hope Senators all around the chamber will acknowledge that. I know that Senator Mason does, and I appreciate that.
I think we should never be complacent about these things. The legislation provides a sound framework, but it is the right culture and leadership which matter and which, in all organisations, public and private, need to be carefully nurtured and consistently reinforced. I might say that in honouring this important election commitment the government is providing the means to enhance -- [time expired]
| Media Contact: | Website: |
|---|---|
| Media Adviser - Colin Campbell - 0407 787 181 | www.cabinetsecretary.gov.au www.smos.gov.au |