Stewardship guidance

The APS builds its capability and institutional knowledge, and supports the public interest now and into the future, by understanding the long-term impacts of what it does.

Stewardship as an APS Value: Guidance for Australian Public Service Employees and Agencies

Stewardship is a new Australian Public Service Value under the Public Service Act 1999. This Value reflects the important role that all APS employees play in ensuring that the APS serves the Government, the Parliament, and the Australian community, now and into the future.

This guidance outlines a framework for Stewardship, including how employees can uphold the new Value, and, by doing so, contribute to an effective, trusted, and sustainable APS that delivers outcomes for all Australians.

‘As servants of the public, we are all responsible and accountable for leaving the APS in better shape than we found it.’[1]

Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, Minister for the Public Service

What is stewardship?

Stewardship is a practice of caring for something that we have been trusted to look after. Being a good steward means accepting responsibility for that care, and working to ensure the long-term integrity and sustainability of what has been entrusted to us.

All APS employees are stewards of the APS—we show this when we strive to do a good job, find ways to do things better, and work together to deliver the best outcomes we can. We are custodians of public service craft, knowledge, and practice—and we show this when we learn from the experience of those who have come before us, and make our own contributions to public service know-how for the future.

The inclusion of Stewardship as an APS Value reflects behaviours and practices that we see across the APS every day—from agencies working together to respond to crises or emerging policy issues, to teams providing future-focused and considered advice to government, to individuals maintaining accurate records and representing their agency and the APS with integrity.

Enshrining Stewardship as a Value requires us to be deliberate, active, and reflective in considering the context and purpose of our work, so that each of us can contribute to the continuous improvement of the APS as a professional and trusted public service.

Stewardship can include looking ahead when making decisions; maintaining and drawing on a repository of wisdom and experience; sustaining core expertise; building and nurturing genuine partnerships; investing in capability and continuity of services; and remaining steadfast to the public interest.[2]

Why does it matter?

The APS is fundamental to the effective functioning of Australia’s democratic system. A professional and apolitical public service provides quality advice and delivery that enables the elected government to meet its commitments to the Australian people.

To be effective, the APS needs to be trusted as a source of deep knowledge and expertise in the work of government. This means that we must be deliberate in cultivating that knowledge and expertise, and drawing on it to meet current and emerging needs.

Stewardship of the APS ensures that we continue to grow our capability, support our people, and adapt to changing priorities—while staying true to the purpose of the APS as an institution.

Stewardship has for some time been accepted as a core principle in the APS, and remains a responsibility of Secretaries, the Secretaries Board, and the APS Commissioner under the PS Act. Enshrining Stewardship as an APS Value gives employees at all levels, and in all job types, a greater sense of ownership of the APS as an institution, and empowers employees to take responsibility for their own contributions to its effectiveness and success.

What are the new requirements?

The PS Act has been amended[3] at subsection 10(6) to include a new APS Value of Stewardship:

The APS builds its capability and institutional knowledge, and supports the public interest now and into the future, by understanding the long‑term impacts of what it does.

The Australian Public Service Commissioner’s Directions 2022 (Directions) set out the scope and application of the APS Values, including Stewardship at section 17A. Under the Directions, demonstrating Stewardship requires the following, having regard to an employee’s duties and responsibilities:

1. having proper regard to known and reasonably foreseeable implications of advice, decisions, and other actions;
2. having proper regard to Agency goals and responsibilities and the way in which the individual’s work contributes to the achievement of those goals and responsibilities;
3. supporting and contributing to a workplace culture that sustains core knowledge, expertise, and standards of professionalism to deliver intended results with integrity;
4. reflecting on and learning from past experience and institutional knowledge, including through robust evaluation, to inform operations, advice, and decisions;
5. ensuring complete, accurate, and appropriately accessible record keeping of key actions and decisions; and
6. representing the Agency and the APS in a way that maintains trust and confidence in the integrity and professionalism of the APS.

In practice, the ways in which APS employees demonstrate these behaviours will depend on a range of factors, including:

• their job type (e.g. whether they are in a policy, regulatory, service delivery, or program role);
• the particular duties of their position;
• their skills and experience;
• the extent of their supervisory, management, or leadership responsibilities;
• the extent of their engagement with external stakeholders; and
• their seniority.

This guidance outlines each of the requirements of the Directions on Stewardship and provides further interpretation, advice, and case studies on the application of Stewardship across the APS.

Stewardship and the APS Code of Conduct

The PS Act requires APS employees and agency heads to behave at all times in a way that upholds the APS Values. Agency heads and SES employees must also promote the Values. All employees must inform themselves of their obligations under the PS Act.

An individual’s failure to uphold any of the APS Values, including Stewardship, may result in a finding that the individual has breached the APS Code of Conduct.

While all APS employees must uphold the Values—which is central to maintaining trust in the APS — it is not the intention of the APS conduct framework that every behaviour which falls short of expectations will result in a Code of Conduct process. 

A range of other actions may be considered where agencies have assessed an employee’s behaviour to be less serious, or to pose a lower risk to public confidence in the APS.

Further guidance on this is provided in Handling Misconduct: A human resource manager’s guide, at Chapter 4: When behaviour doesn’t meet expectations—preliminary considerations. As well, Chapter 5: Options for managing lower-risk behaviours covers a range of other approaches that can be taken to manage lower-risk behaviours in a proportionate way, including:

• counselling;
• performance management;
• coaching or mentoring;
• alternative dispute resolution;
• warnings and directions; and
• changing an employee’s role or duties.

Agency responses to behavioural concerns are expected to be proportionate, specific to the nature of the conduct, and aimed at restoration—be that of the reputation of the agency or APS; workplace relationships and morale; or employee productivity and capability.

Contact

If you have questions about this guidance, please contact the Ethics Advisory Service on (02)6202 3737, or email ethics@apsc.gov.au.