Welcome to the Our Values online forum
The Government has tasked the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) with revising the APS Values into a smaller, tighter set of values that are meaningful, memorable and effective in driving change.
We want to get a set of Values that will be relevant and useful to all APS employees and guide strong performance across the APS. To help us do this, we are asking for your input.
Announcement
The Forum has now closed.
Background on the Our Values online forum
The Commission recently asked APS employees and interested members of the public to provide submissions about revising the APS Values to make them more relevant and effective in a modern public service.
Between 30 June and 2 August 2010 the Commission collected submissions about the APS Values and the APS Values discussion paper. Anyone who was interested could contribute their ideas to the Values consultation process and help us in our review process.
At the same time we established an online discussion forum for APS employees. The forum enabled APS employees to discuss topics related to the working of the Values and how they could be improved.
During this time we received over 70 submissions and over 900 particpants on our forum.
If you provided a submission or contributed to the forum we would like to thank you for the time and thought you contributed. We would also like to ask you to participate in Stage 2 of the process.
An ongoing process: Stage 2
While the forum ended in August the work does not finish there.
We are currently reviewing and consolidating all of your submissions and using your comments to help us draft a set of new Values.
When we’ve got that ready, we’ll be asking for your views again.
We want you to let us know if we've got them right
You can stay involved in the process by:
- Subscribing to our RSS Feed. We will announce when Stage 2 is about to commence and you can come back to check our progress
- Ask to be included in our email contact list. Simply email us at ourvalues@apsc.gov.au with your contact details and your consent to be added to our list.
Your address will only be used for messages relating to the Our Values online forum
About the reforms
In September last year, the Prime Minister established an Advisory Group to review Australian Government administration and develop a Blueprint for reform of the Australian Public Service. That Blueprint was delivered to Government on 30 March 2010 and the Government has accepted all of its recommendations, including the recommendation to revise the APS Values.
The Blueprint identifies a number of challenges for the APS:
- we need to meet the changing expectations of the community, including involving them when designing programs and services and publishing more public sector data
- we need to adapt more quickly to technological change, and harness the opportunities it offers
- we need to get better at attracting new talent to work with us
- we need to strengthen our capability to provide the Government with high quality policy advice, and
- we need to keep a focus on doing our jobs efficiently.
Two common themes within the submissions made to the Advisory Group were that:
- the content of the current Values is broadly right, but the language is too complex and difficult to remember and apply, and would benefit from being streamlined, and
- the current Values need to be reconsidered to include different values that are more closely aligned to the contemporary business of government.
Taking this feedback into account, the Government has tasked the Australian Public Service Commission with revising the APS Values.
The Blueprint proposed the following qualities as a starting point for this discussion:
- accountable
- frank, impartial and non-partisan
- results-oriented
- ethical
- merit-based employment.
Views are being sought from a wide range of stakeholders, including from APS employees, the government, community, private sectors and relevant unions. As a public service, we now have a rare opportunity to make real and systematic improvement to how we serve the Government and the community. We would be very grateful for your perspectives and ideas about how we can strengthen our values and, thereby, the way we do business.
Document library
Ahead of the Game - Blueprint for the reform of Australian Government administration
available from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website
APS Values
APS Values discussion paper
Contact us
If you would like any further information about the Values consultation process, or would like to discuss any point in your submission, please send an email to ourvalues@apsc.gov.au or contact the Ethics Advisory Service on (02) 6202 3737.