Section 1: Overview of APS Reform

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Figure 1: APS Reform on a page

Sources of APS Reform
The Thodey Review	International best practice	National Agreement on Closing the Gap	Independent reviews and government inquiries	COVID-19 lessons learned
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The APS is working for Australia

The Australian Public Service has a steadfast role in supporting the prosperity of our communities and industries. Australians want to feel safe and have a good standard of living and financial well-being. They want access to affordable healthcare and schools, their data secure and borders safe. A strong public service is essential to the health, wealth, and livelihood of Australians, and to serve the community through every stage of life.

The APS is doing more than ever to deliver services across the country, to provide Australians with easy access to government services where and when they need them, in a way that suits them best. The APS is boosting numbers of essential frontline staff, expanding its service delivery footprint, and modernising online service delivery.

The APS works to keep Australians safe at home and overseas, to safeguard the future prosperity and security of the nation, and to protect Australia’s natural resources and natural wonders. It is not enough for the APS to simply keep up with our changing world, it needs to be at the forefront to support the government to ensure Australia remains safe and prosperous.

The APS is building trust and putting people first. Each public servant has an important role in maintaining and improving the APS for the Australian community, in deepening the public’s faith in the integrity of the service, and in ensuring the APS is a trusted and reliable partner to Australian people and businesses. The APS is listening to Australians and looking to the future. Across the nation, the APS is working for Australia.

APS Reform combines support from the centre with the power of the service

In December 2023, responsibility for coordinating delivery of the APS Reform program moved from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to the Australian Public Service Commission. While still under the direction of Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, Minister for the Public Service, this move leveraged the APSC’s natural role in supporting improvements across the service, and ensures that reform and continuous improvement are embedded as business-as-usual activities across the public service.

APS Reform has been a priority for Secretaries Board over the course of 2023 and 2024, consistent with the Board’s legislated function ‘to take responsibility for the stewardship of the APS and for developing and implementing strategies to improve the APS’ as set out in the Public Service Act 1999. Secretaries Board provides strategic oversight of the reform agenda, with a particular focus on shaping and guiding significant cross-portfolio initiatives, or initiatives that may have flow-on impacts across the service. APS Reform work that is more operational in nature is then considered through the Board’s supporting governance structures, including the Chief Operating Officers Committee.

The APSC is an institutional steward of the APS and its legislated mandate includes public service integrity, workforce management and capability. It supports a trusted and contemporary APS through setting the standards and expectations on integrity, behaviour and stewardship, uplifting the capability and capacity of the public sector workforce, and fostering engagement and partnership with people, communities and businesses. The APSC partners with agencies across the APS to strengthen the public service through the APS Reform agenda, giving effect to the strategic direction agreed by Secretaries Board and the Government.

The APSC is enabling, supporting and stewarding whole-of-government delivery of the Reform agenda, aligned with the 4 pillars of APS Reform:

1. An APS that embodies integrity in everything it does.
2. An APS that puts people and business at the centre of policy and services.
3. An APS that is a model employer.
4. An APS that has the capability to do its job well.

The APSC partners with agencies and departments leading and implementing reforms across the service, supporting improvements in over 100 agencies and government entities. From the centre of government, the APSC uses its broad perspective to identify and prioritise reform implementation opportunities across the public service. Experience throughout the APS provides the APSC with key insights on what is working and what needs more attention.

APS Reform is strengthening the public service and building trust in public institutions

Public sector reform is a recurring feature of public administration, although the degree of investment and ambition has varied over time. The current APS Reform agenda builds on a range of reform efforts to date, and is positioning the APS to be future fit and capable of adapting and evolving to meet changing and rising expectations.

The APS Reform agenda is primarily focused on delivering transformations that benefit multiple teams or agencies at the same time. It is designed to deliver the changes that can help bolster public trust in our key institutions.

The APS has a unique whole-of-nation perspective and responsibility to deliver for all Australians. Reform initiatives acknowledge the APS as a critical national asset in effective, coordinated, and whole-of-nation responses to current and emerging economic, social and environmental national priorities.

Reform initiatives that enhance trust in the public service will strengthen the APS’s role as a national asset. International case studies from the UK, New Zealand, Singapore and Canada, and others, draw a clear line between strengthening public sector reform and bolstering trust in government, thereby reinforcing national security and democratic stability. Key to this is uplifting the capability of the public sector to genuinely connect with and serve Australians.

APS Reform needs to be both top-down and bottom-up in its delivery to achieve whole-of-program outcomes. Some reforms, such as a unified workplace bargaining approach, are most effective when they are simultaneously embedded across the service. Other reforms, such as building specialist workforce capabilities, can spread more organically from one agency to another. These complementary approaches support both consistent implementation of APS-wide reforms, and the creation of an environment in which agency-specific reform insights and successes can be shared and replicated.

The APS is reinforcing and embedding a program of work to deliver lasting and effective change

The APS Reform agenda outlines the government’s plan for a stronger APS. The Reform agenda comprises 59 initiatives led by 9 agencies, provided in Figure 2. Progress varies from early development to full completion.

Aligned with the 4 pillars of reform outlined by the government, delivery of APS Reform initiatives have been prioritised towards areas satisfying one or more of the following criteria:

• Addresses an identified and clear immediate gap or need – for instance, reducing reliance on contractors and consultants, and building specialised expertise within the service.
• Targets areas of current pressure, where the pressure is expected to continue or grow – for instance, strengthening the pro-integrity culture of the APS to address failures in decision-making or leadership.
• Creates foundational change that is necessary for further future improvements – for instance, establishing structures that help oversee, guide or inform the service, such as the National Anti-Corruption Commission or the Charter of Partnerships and Engagement.

The prioritisation of reform initiatives considers the capacity of the service to develop and implement reform. Embedding multiple reforms simultaneously risks overwhelming work areas, exceeding their capacity to effectively implement the reforms, and jeopardising business-as-usual operations. To this end, APS Reform initiatives are developed on a staggered timeline, with clear guidance of expectations delivered to agencies to support their efforts.

The Reform agenda has entered a phase of reinforcement, embedding and targeting

In its second year, the government’s APS Reform agenda has moved to a new phase of reform. Over the course of the first year, the APSC established an implementation approach for reform to support a multi-year effort. This first phase included a portfolio of an initial 44 initiatives. In this foundational phase, the focus was on developing a clear program logic and delivery model, and launching initiatives that would meaningfully contribute to all 4 of the government’s reform pillars. An APS-wide transformation strategy was defined to guide efforts across the service and deliver outcomes in the dynamic and decentralised context of the APS.

The second phase of reform focuses on reinforcing and embedding early achievements. Additional targeted reforms emphasise integrity, partnerships and engagement, and capability. The delivery platform for reform is maturing, including through the strategic use of governance mechanisms to drive coordinated and effective implementation of reforms. Implementation risks and challenges are more robustly managed, and change management approaches underpin the path to achieving outcomes.

The current phase highlights the need and benefit of working closely together. Agencies are working closer than ever to support implementation, through networked sharing of insights, capability uplift programs and improved guidance on how to embed reform initiatives across the service.

The government remains committed to investing in APS Reform

In October 2022, the government announced $72.9 million in funding for the APS Reform agenda over 3 years including:

• $40.8 million over 3 years to deliver immediate benefits for the public sector and broader Australian public
• $25 million to establish an APS Capability Reinvestment Fund
• $7.1 million reprioritised from existing resources, to establish the APS Net Zero Unit in the Department of Finance.

In the 2023–24 Budget, funding to support APS Reform included:

• $8.4 million from the Contingency Reserve to build capability under the first round of the Capability Reinvestment Fund
• $10.9 million to establish an in-house consulting function
• $3.4 million to boost First Nations employment in the APS.

This commitment ensures current work on the cultural, structural and legislative changes to strengthen the APS will have continuing impact, and support further reform.

Australia as an international leader in public sector reform

Public services across the world are facing common challenges in trust, capability and workforce sustainability. Governments can, should and do learn from each other’s experience and approaches to meet these challenges. The Australian public sector’s focus on delivering the best for the community and the government is of interest to other countries, with regular international interest in the substance and approach of Australia’s public sector reform. Likewise, the APS looks to like-minded countries and the OECD for positive reform efforts that could be adapted for the Australian context.

Building and maintaining a world-class public service has positioned Australia well by global standards. Australia ranked 5 th in the OECD’s 2023 Digital Government Index. It was one of only 3 countries that improved across all 5 drivers of public trust from 2021 to 2023 (fairness, reliability, openness, responsiveness and integrity).[1]

This improvement in public trust demonstrates the emphasis the APS has placed on improving integrity outcomes. Australians’ trust in the Federal Government increased significantly from 38% in 2021 to 46% in 2023, exceeding the OECD average of 39%.

Australia performed above the OECD average on a range of indicators, including:

• 68% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, compared to a 66% OECD average.
• Australians find it more likely than the OECD average that their application for government benefits would be treated fairly: 64% of people in Australia find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 52%.

Figure 2: Reform program logic and summary of program

Footnotes

[1] OECD Survey of Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, 2024