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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 1 Hansard (13 February) . . Page.. 66 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

He who has once advanced by a stride will not be content to advance afterwards by steps. Public servants therefore, like racehorses, should be well fed with reward, but not to fatness.

I would be surprised if anybody would disagree with the gist of that statement-that is, our public servants do deserve to be well rewarded for their effort. They deserve to be well rewarded for their effort. Their positions deserve to be competitive with similar positions in other parts of the public sector and in the private sector. But rewarding them to the level of indulgence, or fatness, is not in the interest of the community.

Mr Speaker, I have indicated that this government will reward effort appropriately, will focus on keeping public servants in general at a level where they can expect there to be comparability between their conditions and pay and those of others in similar conditions. That is a philosophy that I think members would be well advised to regard carefully. Members will see in our policy with respect to remuneration for teachers and more recently nurses the implementation of just that approach-an approach which emphasises keeping people in key positions at a comparable level with others in similar positions elsewhere in the community.

Renewal

Mr Deputy Speaker, the last of my four requirements for the ACT public service is a continuing commitment to renewal. The public service renewal initiative is tasked with meeting that objective. The first phase of this initiative involves a structured interview program to identify the central issues relating to the improvement of people management and organisation in the ACT public service. Ministers and the Auditor-General have been included in this interview program. I will be inviting the chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration to take part as well.

In parallel with this survey, the Commissioner for Public Administration, Richard Moss, will be undertaking a review of the Public Sector Management Act and of personnel management systems within the service. This review will focus on employee development, work performance and organisation planning with a view to aligning these services with a desired culture of the service. Mr Moss has also commenced the development of a workforce planning framework to take a strategic view of the future development needs of individuals and the future wellbeing of the ACT public service as a whole. The results of the survey will be assessed at a seminar of the leaders of the ACT public service to be held in mid-March, with that seminar in turn developing a public service renewal strategy for government consideration by the end of April.

Conclusion

Mr Deputy Speaker, in conclusion, I want to say that this statement reflects my commitment and the government's commitment to supporting the ACT public service and to building on its record of success. Based on the four principles that I have set out-accountability, innovation, performance and renewal-we can have a public service that remains in the vanguard of public administration in this country. A service that is strongly citizen focused, open, responsive and accountable. A service that embodies high levels of personal integrity, that is agile, innovative, that values and

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