Integrity Strategy for the Commonwealth Public Sector

An Integrity Strategy for the Commonwealth Public Sector is being developed by the Attorney-General’s Department and Australian Public Service Commission, in consultation with other agencies responsible for elements of the integrity reform agenda.

The development of the strategy is a key recommendation of the Australian Public Service Integrity Taskforce’s final report Louder Than Words: An APS Integrity Action Plan. The Secretaries Board established an APS Integrity Taskforce in 2023 to bring together information about integrity initiatives underway across agencies, consider how they intersect, and identify gaps and opportunities.

A key input to APS integrity reforms is the Integrity Taskforce Report. It provides recommendations to strengthen Senior Executive Service integrity leadership, reinforce the centrality of lawfulness to the APS, and strengthen integrity policy and oversight.

The Australian Government committed to develop Australia’s Third National Action Plan (NAP3) under the Open Government Partnership. This partnership is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The NAP3, delivered in December 2023, includes 8 commitments across ministerial portfolios to uplift the transparency and integrity of government. 

In 2024–25, the integrity strategy will be developed to:

  • enhance the Australian public’s visibility of work to improve public sector integrity 
  • strengthen coordination and information-sharing across government agencies 
  • harness information and data to improve reporting and measurement of integrity. 

Implementation of the recommendations of the APS Integrity Taskforce report is overseen by the Secretaries Board. Secretaries are championing integrity initiatives within their departments and supporting portfolio agencies to implement integrity reforms.

See also in this report

Integrity – Louder than words: An APS Integrity Action Plan

Find out more

Australian Government (n.d.) Australia’s Open Government Partnership, Attorney General’s Department website, accessed 14 August 2024.

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