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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3599 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

This bill will change the current system of appointing senior executives on contract, a system which was introduced by this government in 1995, back to the old system of appointing such people permanently. Department heads and other senior executives would still be appointed to their positions for a fixed term, but at the end of that time, if their appointment was not extended, these officers would be transferred to another position rather than losing their job entirely.

The bill also sets up a new independent process for appointing people to senior executive positions through the direct involvement of a new senior appointments commissioner and the public accounts committee to attempt to avoid political appointments and cronyism. Mr Osborne, in presenting his bill, gave-as Mr Kaine said-a very eloquent speech detailing how the public service has been reformed over the last couple of decades and how the concept of a career public service has been undermined by economic rationalism and the desire of right-wing politicians in both major parties to turn the senior executive into a mirror of a private sector corporation.

I agree with his analysis that the move to place senior executives on contracts has been a retrograde step that has not served the public interest. Mr Osborne, in his speech, quoted from the book Politicisation and the Career Service by Curnow and Page, which summed up the benefits of a career public service. I would like to repeat that quote:

The career service ... provide[s] continuity and stability of administration. Political crises may occur in rapid succession, but the security of tenure enjoyed by public servants ensures that essential services continue to be performed. Public servants become the repository of considerable expertise, not merely because of continuity, but also because their appointment and promotion by merit ensures a relatively high level of competence ... Overall, the system is more formally rational; more certain and predictable than any other, and possibly more efficient as well. And although the career service does not guarantee the absence of corruption, it does place a premium on professional behaviour.

The independent secure public servant, providing impartial advice, can act as a counterweight to balance the more passionate enthusiasm of political masters, whose decisions are, understandably, alleged to be based solely on short-term political gains. A career service is loyal and responsible to the democratically elected government of the day in accordance with the doctrine of the Westminster system.

On the contrary, the studies quoted by Mr Osborne have found that appointment of executives on contract has led to greater politicisation of the public service. In particular, there was evidence that executives have given emphasis to short-term political perspectives and considerations of future employment prospects in giving advice to ministers.

We have seen a number of examples in the ACT, particularly through the hospital implosion inquest and the Bruce stadium inquiry, of senior executives acting more like yes-men and yes-women than people acting without fear or favour in presenting options to government.

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