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The Hon Kevin Andrews MP

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service

Launch of the “New Better Practice Guides”

Thursday 22 June 2006

Parliamentary colleagues Senator Brett Mason, Dr Peter Shergold, Ms Jane Halton, Ladies and Gentleman. It’s a great delight to be here this morning for the launch of the series of “New Better Practice Guides”.

What they are essentially about is going beyond the notion of just sustaining the public service at it’s current level, but recognising the very real challenges that the public service, along with every other sector of the Australian society and economy faces. In terms of ensuring that we have the best capability, that we are as efficient as we possibly can be, that we are productive and that we have a workforce which is comprehensively engaged in that process. It’s leading the challenges, not just of the ageing of the population and the impact that will have on both on the private sector and the public sector in Australia.

The tightening of the job market as a result of those demographic factors, the greater mobility particularly amongst younger workers in Australia today. The growing diversity of career patterns that are part and parcel of the world in which we live in. The increasing experience of the recruitment of experienced workers within Australia. The fact that we have got a growing requirement for APS employees to be multi skilled, to be flexible, to be intellectually agile and capable of working in this booming information age. Along with all the other challenges that we face at the present time. One of the things which is quite important in this context is performance management as a very integral part of workforce planning.

Leaders must really promote the right culture within their organisation, within their agency, within their department, to ensure that people are capable of working within the team and in the environment in which they work in at their very best. The creation of this organisational culture, which is something that I know all the public service have been very involved in for a considerable period of time, is none the less the ongoing work which we must be engaged in if we wish to attract the best and brightest to the public service in Australia. The reality today is that we are competing against other sectors within the community. People, as I said earlier, are much more mobile and will go where they believe not only do they get the best pay and conditions in terms of their expertise and the experience they can bring to a job. They are also looking for the general environment in which they work, and whether or not that gives them the sense of fulfilment they want to achieve out of their work. So this series of publications are very important in that regard. I’m particularly delighted that Senator Mason is here today, because in some respects it was his prompting at a Senate committee hearing back in May 2005 that gave impetus to the actual publication of these booklets. When he was asking about the absence rates for a number of Commonwealth Agencies, and made the very helpful suggestion then perhaps some guidelines would be useful in terms of addressing what was the problem.

I have to say to you Brett that I was a little amused in coming along to do this today because I was looking through the newspapers as I do every morning, and on the letters page of the Sydney Morning Herald today was a letter which I think captures an old culture, and one which we are very much trying to change and very much engaged in doing something different, and if I could just read briefly from, and paraphrase slightly, it says this “ My sickies may not be my god given right, but they are a right nonetheless, and I’m taking them, thanks. Your productivity isn’t my problem.” I thought that was very much captured in what, two to three sentences, everything we are working against because your productivity is my problem because productivity of this nation is the problem and the challenge for all of us. If we’re all more productive then not only will the particular agency or enterprise in which we are engaged in be more productive, but the nation will be more productive and that of course has major benefits for all of us. And so its good that amongst these publications there is one which is entitled “Turned Up and Tuned In” which I think is about promoting a very different cultural attitude to the one which was captured by that very brief letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald this morning.

I congratulate all of those involved in this process. To thank Senator Mason for the gentle prompting of a couple of years ago which has been an important part of the impetus in developing these publications. To congratulate those who have been involved in the ongoing work in putting them together, and to congratulate Lynne and the Public Service Commission for their continuing work in this regard, not just in terms of these publications but in the ongoing work which they do for the public service in Australia. Overall it is my great pleasure therefore and delight to officially launch the publications. Thank you.