Proud to be Public Servant

The Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Peter Shergold spoke at the National Press club at Canberra this week about the contemporary public service. It was a strong defence of the professionalism and capability of the public service with Shergold citing the many significant accomplishments that only dedicated public servants could achieve. Shergold also responded to what he sees as misguided and unfair criticisms and rejected the accusation that the public service has been politicised during the Howard government term in office.

Shergold also commented about the importance of confidentiality in the relationship between public servants and ministers and said that despite increased opportunities for scrutiny, frank advice can only be guaranteed where confidentiality is assured.

"Of course the Australian Public Service needs to be accountable for the way it plays its role. It is - more than ever before. The Westminster tradition has evolved considerably in the last thirty years: there is now much greater scrutiny of public service decision-making than in the past through Parliamentary committees, the Audit Office, and the Ombudsman; through legislation which, within limits set by Parliament, provides freedom of information to the public; and the opportunity, through an extended panoply of administrative law, for citizens to have decisions reviewed. There is now a network of integrity which did not exist 30 years ago.

Yet confidentiality remains a fundamental requisite of democratic decision-making. A public service which cannot provide its frank advice in confidence will rapidly lose its ability to influence. No government will willingly involve officials in decision-making if they fear that the written advice, or an account of its oral discussion, will end up in the newspapers if the government’s judgement is not accepted. Those who leak the deliberations of government, as opposed to those who whistleblow on corruption, undermine democratic process. They erode the trust between government and public administration which lies at the heart of good governance. They diminish the opportunity for public servants to inform and influence policy and, conversely, reduce the willingness of government to seek the broadest range of advice from across the administration. They undermine whole of government approaches. It is for that reason that I protect the confidentiality of Ministerial decision-making just as zealously as journalists protect the confidentiality of their informants."

He added however that in some fields public servants must be in a position to make independent decisions without ministerial interference or direction

"Ministers cannot change the outcome of a tender process which has been delegated to a public servant, or use public funds in ways for which they have not been appropriated, or ask to see the advice that their departments have provided to a previous government, or tell a public servant how to respond to an FOI application, or - without the agreement of the Opposition - commit a future government during an election caretaker period, or decide on which senior executives are appointed to their departments. In these, and many other ways, power is balanced between the Australian government and its public administration so that, on occasion, the only possible response will be “No, Minister”."