Restoring honesty and accountability to Government
In its last term the previous Government was particularly scandal prone. Several Ministers resigned over inappropriate behaviour and due process was not always observed within the Public Service. No doubt new, or reasserted, standards of Ministerial behaviour will now be imposed.
Ever since the Wilenski reforms to the Public Service Act in 1979 Minsters have exerted extraordinary authority. As a result more than one ministerial staffer has been elevated to a senior Public Sector position, ahead of the qualified and experienced professionals familiar with the inevitable complexities and who actually do the work of the Agency. We have also seen the unedifying increasing use of public officials to prepare political press releases and parliamentary questions, that should be the work of ministerial staffers, and correspondingly undue authority was given to that staff to make political demands on public servants.
It can be expected that most of the previous 'jobs for the boys and girls' appointments will now be reversed. But the ministerial power to summarily remove a, now non-permanent, Director General (or Department CEO) remains. Through this authority Ministers are able to influence the composition of the entire Senior Executive Service.
In the hands of a politically pragmatic Minister this power can effectively destroy the effectiveness of a public sector Department as 'frank and fearless advice' becomes impossible.
An outcome has been risk avoidance and consequent deskilling within the NSW Public Sector. It is safer to be able to sheet-home blame to a contractor, that can be sacked, than to undertake responsibility for a project or initiative directly. While there are still some areas of expertise in science, engineering, town planning, IT, social work and so on, many agencies simply outsource their need for professional skills; they now indirectly employ the people who actually 'do stuff'.
This reduces many public sector managers to supervising external relationships; now inevitably 'managing' projects at arms length, in areas that they personally have little or no current 'hands on' knowledge or day-to-day experience in. Because they have limited grasp of what actually needs to be done or how the desired outcomes might be achieved; inappropriate, excessively complex, and often ever-changing functional specifications; mismatched budgets; and ridiculous, often politically imposed, timelines are commonplace.
As a result, the potential for such contracted-out services to underperform; to be excessively costly; or to go badly awry in other ways; is very high.
But public sector numbers are not reduced. Instead of professionals to actually do the job; staff to prepare contracts and specifications are needed; and regular project management and 'work in progress' meetings must be held. Some officers spend their lives running from one meeting to the next instead of exercising their professional skills at their desktop; actually supervising a team; or in the field. To give the appearance of effectiveness these 'meeting junkies' require numerous support staff who in turn require administration; HR, payroll, OH&S.
When badly designed and managed projects do go awry the internal politics of 'blame and gain' come to the fore. Someone's failure is another's godsend. Honesty and accountability are the first casualties; followed by trust, loyalty and efficiency.
Let's hope the new Government can avoid these pitfalls. But perhaps they are unavoidable in a post Wilenski New South Wales Public Sector?