How to deliver a 'world class' public service

Introduction

The new Crisafulli LNP Queensland Government has come to office with the promise to establish a "world class public service".

That is fine, but we don't know what that means and neither probably does the new government. It has not released any detailed policy papers about what it proposes to do to achieve a "world class public service". There are not any details about how it will tackle the politicisation of our public institutions and overcome the problems about the lack of integrity as identified by the Coaldrake Review of Culture and Accountability in the Queensland Public Sector's (Coaldrake 2022).There are also issues like Queensland's current compulsory preferential voting system which the LNP wants to replace. How is that to be achieved without looking like a partisan motivated move?

While the LNP Government has promised that "jobs are safe" for the bulk of public servants, it has already sacked ten of the twenty-two departmental heads inherited from the previous government and is quickly installing its own appointees. The "now it's our turn" syndrome of putting LNP appointees in the top jobs is clearly underway. Can that process be improved?

The issue is both clarifying what a "world class public service" means in practice and how it is to be achieved along with other needed reforms?

What previous Non-Labor governments did – the failure of Audit Commissions

Both the previous Borbidge Coalition (1996-8) and Newman (2012-15) LNP governments appointed special audit commissions to review government administration. Such commissions had been employed by the Victorian Kennett Liberal governments (1992) and the first Howard Government (1996-8) (Jones and Prasser 2013). The incoming Abbott Coalition Government also appointed a National Commission of Audit.

While these bodies had a wider remit they were largely stalking horses for public sector cuts rather than public administration renovation. The one appointed by the Newman Government with former federal Liberal Treasurer, Peter Costello as chair, was especially seen as being politically driven to justify cuts and not really an independent review. Consequently, for these and other reasons, audit commissions as a mechanism of independent review have fallen out of favour even among incoming non-Labor governments.

Certainly. Premier Crisafulli has made no mention of reviving the audit commission instrument. He did not want to scare the public service horses and repeat the mistakes of the Newman Government in that regard.

The issue, then, if not an audit commission, how will the new LNP Administration achieve overdue government renovation without it seeming to be just another government seeking to make changes for political advantage? Will it just be a range of ad hoc, one-off reviews with little attempt to develop a more cohesive approach with a clear open process?

Bring back EARC

One suggestion is to revive the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission (EARC).

EARC was a recommendation of the 1989 Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry into corruption. Its task was to review all aspects of Queensland's public administration because a major thrust to the Fitzgerald Report was its criticism of Queensland's system of executive dominated government, weak parliamentary system, excessive secrecy, outdated public service arrangements and related issues.

What was EARC?

EARC established in 1990, was a statutorily based body under the Electoral and Administrative Review Act 1989 passed by the then National Party Government. It was headed by a highly regarded commissioner, Tom Sherman, a former Commonwealth Crown Solicitor.