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The Hon Kevin Andrews MP

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service

United Nations Award for Australian Public Service

The Australian Public Sector has won a prestigious United Nations award for Improvement of the Quality of the Public Service Process in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Australian Public Service Commissioner, Andrew Podger, accepted the award in a ceremony in New York today (Australian time)

The Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, said the UN indicated the award recognised the APS's outstanding achievement in serving the public interest and its significant contribution to improving public administration in Australia.

He said it reflects substantial public sector reform spanning two decades of management and workplace change and culminating in the Public Service Act 1999.

All Australian public servants share in this award and the Australian Government congratulates them for serving the Australian community so well.

The UN awards were introduced in 2000 to recognise best practice in the public service. There are four award categories:

Improvement of the quality of the public service process;
Improvement of public service results;
Innovations in the public service; and
Application of information and communications technology.

Awards are given in four geographic zones: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, and Latin America.

Last December Mr Andrews released new guidelines for the APS to retain mature age workers and said he wanted the APS to become the leader among Australian employers in this area.

The APS employs more than 131,000 people and its Organisational Renewal report found almost one quarter of the workforce - 23 per cent - could leave in the next five years. These are the senior workers with the most experience - the workers you really want to keep.

Mr Andrews said he hoped that flexible working arrangements and policies to retain mature age workers would reverse the trend of early retirement among federal public servants and help the APS keep its valued older staff.