Public Service Commission fails to deliver

The following is an extract of a Canberra Times article

By Paul Malone (Public Service Reporter)

 

 

The commission has delayed, for a second year, the production of a good practice guide on management of suspected breaches of the code of conduct.

 

The commission said a slippage in the finalisation of a good practice guide on the management of suspected breaches of the code of conduct was due to staffing movements and competing priorities. The guide has been re-scheduled for later this year.

Reporting formally on slippages was introduced by the Commissioner, Lynelle Briggs, in her first term.

She said yesterday that she was committed to transparent reporting - showing both the good and the bad - consistent with the annual report requirements of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts.

She said as a small organisation with limited resources the Commission   tried hard to balance priorities to meet agency needs.

In relation to the Code of Conduct guide delay, a key staff member who conducted the evaluation for the guide was seconded to the New Zealand Government. The guide had been completed and was now with legal advisers.

The shadow minister for public administration, Kelvin Thomson said the Commission needed to pick up its game fast. The commission and the Government should be leading by example, not finding excuses for failing to deliver.

 

 

COA COMMENT; The primary Regulation involving Code of Conduct issues, – the Reg 2.1 gag on public comment, has just been reinstated.

It is completely improper for the Public Service Commissioner to permit agencies to proceed with action on suspected breaches of Reg 2.1 until the Commissioners directions and policies have been established, adopted and advised widely to staff.

Although Agencies take absolutely no notice of the Commissioner’s Directions – at least if they exist, then a Public Servant abused by bureaucrats could go to a Supreme Court or the Federal Court and prove that actions taken against them by bureaucrats are not procedurally fair or are an abuse of process.

 

Combine the failure of the Commission to critically and objectively investigate s16 Whistleblower complaints and then to allow agencies to run their own show in relation to Code of Conduct matters is a failure of the Commission to do its duty.

 

Given this situation it is almost certain that the next annual report will not include reports on ‘slippages’ on work that is really important to Public Servants.