Page 2534 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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service under a single head of service. The bills we are debating today give formal effect to that structure and I thank the Assembly for its agreement to debate them cognately.
Under the single entity structure the former departments are replaced by a single unified ACT public service comprised of administrative units called directorates, each headed by a director-general and reporting to a single head of service. The majority of the legislation before us today simply reflects the new names of these directorates and directors-general.
On the matters of substance, the Public Sector Management (One ACT Public Service) Amendment Bill 2011 will formally establish the single entity ACT public service, creating the office of the head of service and prescribing the functions of the new office. The amendment will also prescribe new functions for directors-general in relation to the administrative unit under their responsibility and in relation to their responsibilities to their relevant minister and the head of service.
It is important to keep in mind that the day-to-day accountabilities and responsibilities of directors-general for the operation of their directorates to their portfolio minister is unaffected by these changes.
The head of the service will be established by the inclusion of a new division in the act. This will enable the Chief Minister to engage a head to manage the service, develop and implement whole-of-government strategies, provide advice and reports to the executive about whole-of-government issues, coordinate activities and outcomes across service units, direct service units in relation to critical or potentially critical issues, approve the structure of service units, manage the employment of members of the service, and manage the exercise by directors-general of their functions. The bill also provides for the head of service to perform any other function given to them by the Chief Minister or by a territory law.
The head of the service will formally take on the employment functions previously undertaken by chief executives and the Commissioner for Public Administration. This rightfully reflects the head of service’s responsibility for the management of the employment of members of the service. In practice, these functions formerly given to the commissioner, in relation to approval of the creation of new executive positions, for example, will be managed by the Deputy Director-General in the Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate, who is also appointed as Commissioner for Public Administration, but not in that capacity. This properly reflects the head of service role.
The commissioner’s role is realigned but will maintain the role as a “check” on decision making where vesting all employment powers in the head of service has the potential to create a conflict of interest. The commissioner also retains responsibility for resolution of grievances, authorisation of management standards, sponsorship of employee diversity programs and public sector values and ethics.
Directors-general will be engaged by the head of the service in consultation with the Chief Minister and the relevant minister. A director-general will, under the relevant minister, be responsible for the stewardship of their directorate, providing advice and
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