Section 2: Progress of APS Reform Initiatives

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With the second phase of the government’s APS Reform agenda underway, the number of APS Reform initiatives has grown by 15, to a total portfolio of 59 initiatives. Completed, ongoing and additional initiatives continue to incrementally and adaptively build on each other. The most significant milestone over the past year was the passage of the Public Service Amendment Act 2024. To strengthen integrity across the APS, the Act added a new APS Value of Stewardship and further clarified the responsibilities of Ministers and Agency Heads. To put citizens and business at the centre, it established an ongoing series of Long-term Insights Briefings on topics that matter to the Australian community. The Act also requires agencies to publish their APS Employee Census results, building transparency and positioning the APS as a model employer that listens to and addresses employees’ issues. To enable a strong and capable workforce, the Act requires large departments and agencies to regularly undertake independent and transparent capability reviews, and publish action plans responding to findings.

The APS is tracking delivery and progress across all outcomes

All APS Reform initiatives go through a project lifecycle, progressing from an initial concept to an outcome in the workplace or Australian community. The APSC tracks projects according to 4 phases: design, planning, delivery and completion.

• Of the 15 second phase initiatives, 8 are in the design phase. Scope, scale or resource questions remain to be resolved before they progress further, including identifying relevant stakeholders for consultation.
• Eight initiatives are in the planning phase, with major milestones identified and projects underway.
• Twenty initiatives are in the delivery phase, having met most milestones. They are being implemented across relevant agencies, or their respective operations or services are being provided.
• Twenty-two initiatives are complete, an increase of 13 over the past year. Project teams have completed all relevant milestones, and will continue to assess impacts against intended outcomes. Completion refers specifically to the progress of the project team. Full implementation across the service, and associated impacts on workplaces and communities, may occur over longer timeframes.

The following graphic (Figure 3) summarises initiatives according to their current delivery status, as reported by project teams as at November 2024.

Figure 3: Summary of initiatives by stage of project lifecycle

Pillar 1: The APS embodies integrity in everything it does

The ambition: The APS acts with integrity and fairness, and is accountable and transparent in what it does. This provides better and more enduring support for government and helps build public trust.

Outcome 1: Public sector employees act with and champion integrity

Outcome in summary: Ensuring public sector employees act with and champion integrity is key to achieving outcomes for government, the parliament, and the public. Understanding the Commonwealth integrity architecture ensures a strategic and effective approach to APS staff doing the right thing at the right time, and builds their capability to navigate ‘shades of grey’. This increases trust and confidence in the APS and government, and reinforces ongoing reforms led by Secretaries Board, including through the Secretaries Charter of Leadership Behaviours.

Four initiatives under this outcome are complete and are strengthening integrity across the public sector.

• The National Anti-Corruption Commission was established on 1 July 2023. It provides deterrence, detection and prevention operations through education, monitoring, investigation and referral. In the 12 months since its establishment, the NACC received over 3,000 referrals. As at 30 October 2024, it was conducting 26 corruption investigations, and overseeing or monitoring 19 investigations by other agencies.
• The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (PGPA) Fraud and Corruption Rule came into effect on 1 July 2024. The amendments to the PGPA Rule are part of the new Commonwealth Fraud and Corruption Control Framework. They require accountable authorities of non-corporate and corporate Commonwealth entities to take all reasonable measures to prevent, detect and deal with corruption and fraud.
• The SES Integrity Masterclass has been developed to support SES staff to strengthen integrity culture within their organisation. Delivered by the APS Academy, this ongoing course empowers SES to fulfil their role as stewards of a pro-integrity culture, and supports them to create safe environments where integrity discussions are mainstream and staff can consistently and positively engage with integrity.
• Implementing the recommendations of the Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces, a shared responsibility of the Parliament.

Five initiatives under this outcome continue to progress from the first phase of reform.

• Legislative amendments to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Act 2023 to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission received Royal Assent on 17 September 2024. The establishment of the Commission completes implementation of the report’s government-led recommendations.
• The Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce, established to oversee implementation of the recommendations from the Set the Standard Report, held its final meeting in September 2024. It has published implementation information on its website.
• Through the 2024–25 Budget, the government committed $1.8 million over 2 years to review the implementation of the Set the Standard Report. The review is due to commence in April 2025.
• To strengthen pro-integrity systems and culture, Secretaries Board set up an APS Integrity Taskforce. The Taskforce presented its findings in the report Louder than Words: An APS Integrity Action Plan, published on 17 November 2023. Work is underway to implement the recommendations, including to ensure the APS has the right frameworks in place to recruit and recognise people whose behaviour is consistent with the APS Values.
• The Public Service Amendment Act 2024 clarifies limitations for Ministerial directions of Agency Heads, making it explicit that Ministers must not direct Agency Heads on individual employment matters. This reinforces the apolitical role of the APS.

There are 5 new initiatives under this outcome for the second phase of reform.

• Improvements to merit-based appointments and performance frameworks for Secretaries of Australian Government departments, Agency Heads and the APS Commissioner. This will explore options to improve transparency and introduce additional merit considerations and safeguards into processes for appointing and monitoring performance of senior APS executives. This work is designed to boost public confidence that government institutions are merit-based, apolitical and managed in ways that uphold the principles of integrity and impartiality.
• The Public Service Amendment Act (No. 2) 2024 received Royal Assent on 26 August 2024. It came into effect the following day. The Act amends the Public Service Act 1999 to clarify the APS Commissioner’s power to inquire into and determine whether current and former Agency Heads have breached the APS Code of Conduct.
• Additional work is underway to consider new legislative own-motion powers for the APS Commissioner. These would enable the Commissioner to instigate inquiries and investigations into current and former APS employees, without waiting for matters to be referred to them.
• Work is underway to address potential post-employment conflicts of interest for Agency Heads. To support the underlying system, the APSC is building an APS Integrity Data Dashboard to map pressures and assess integrity maturity levels in the APS. The Dashboard will collect core integrity indicators and metrics to assess what is and is not working in relation to government performing its role in upholding public integrity values.
• Modernising the review of workplace decisions provision in the Public Service Regulations 2023, to strengthen regulation of agency compliance with the merit principle for promotion reviews.

Outcome 2: Public service employees are stewards of the public service

Outcome in summary: The APS Reform agenda seeks to provide greater transparency on the workings of the APS, to foster and maintain a greater degree of public trust in the public service. It seeks to ensure that APS employees understand their individual and collective roles and responsibilities. To be effective stewards of the public service, public servants must ensure the long-term interests of the Australian community, through fit for purpose and innovative policy advice, regulation and services to meet changing priorities and circumstances.

Three initiatives under this outcome are complete and are supporting public sector employees to be stewards of the public service.

• The Minister for the Public Service delivered the first Annual Ministerial Statement on the progress of APS Reform on 2 November 2023, outlining and reviewing transformation across the service.
• The service has embedded actions to increase transparency of the Secretaries Board through the ongoing publication of meeting communiques, including key outcomes from meetings.
• Following the passage of the Public Service Amendment Act 2024, Stewardship has been added as an APS Value. This change highlights the important and enduring role of public servants in supporting the public interest now and into the future, by understanding the long-term impacts of what it does. Further work is underway to embed the value of Stewardship across the service.

One initiative continues to progress through the second phase of reform.

• The extension of the APS Values to a broader set of public sector bodies covered by the PGPA Act. This work will improve consistency in how all Commonwealth government bodies uphold their values.

Pillar 2: The APS puts people and business at the centre of policy and services

The ambition: The APS genuinely engages and partners with the community and other groups to solve problems and co-design the best solutions to improve the lives of Australians.

Outcome 3: The APS delivers human and user-centred policy and service excellence

Outcome in summary: Genuine partnerships and engagement with Australia’s people, communities, non-government sectors, academia, business and industry is key to developing government policies and services that reflect the needs and aspirations of the people they affect. By having clear principles for how it puts people and business at the centre of policy, implementation and delivery, the APS can deliver better outcomes. Ensuring policies and services are reliable and accessible helps too. By delivering human-centred services and harnessing digital and data systems, the APS can build community trust, confidence and satisfaction in public services.

Four initiatives under this outcome are complete and supporting the APS to deliver human and user-centred policy and service excellence.

• The Charter of Partnerships and Engagement was launched in November 2023. It sets out the behaviours and principles that underpin improved engagement and partnership capability, ensuring that the APS is better able to support people and deliver results on the ground.
• The APS shared vision for user-centred service excellence was launched in November 2023, outlining the public service’s promise to the communities, businesses and people it serves. A diverse group of people from the Australian community helped Services Australia create the vision—reliable and accessible services, when and how you need them.
• The Survey of Trust in Australian public services has expanded to include monthly reports and greater transparency of survey results. The survey provides a regular, reliable and publicly accessible dataset on Australians’ experiences with Australian public services.
• Supporting all initiatives under this outcome, the Partnership Priorities Committee of Secretaries Board supports enhanced and coordinated policy and delivery outcomes for Australians and businesses. The Committee further strengthens partnership culture and behaviour in the public service, to ensure a consistent, natural and early impulse to engage and co-design.

Three initiatives under this outcome continue to progress from the first phase of reform.

• Implementation of the Data and Digital Government Strategy, which sets the vision for how the Australian Government will deliver simple, secure and connected public services for people and businesses through world-class data and digital capabilities.
• The passage of the Public Service Amendment Act 2024 established the Long-term Insights Briefings as an enduring function, providing an opportunity for the APS to consider significant, cross-cutting and complex policy issues, and how they may affect Australia in the medium and long-term. The second briefing explores the future of human services, with particular emphasis on how the Commonwealth works with Australian communities. The Long-term Insights Briefing function aims to strengthen policy development and longer term stewardship in the APS, demonstrating the APS commitment to improvement and listening to the views of all Australians.
• Implementation of the government’s response to the myGov User Audit, published on 18 December 2023. The government’s response will address each audit recommendation, with the aim to build trust in government services and make interacting with government simple, connected, and secure.

There are 3 new initiatives under this outcome for the second phase of reform.

• Identify feasible options to strengthen transparency of agency customer feedback. This builds on the government’s commitment to publish findings from the Survey of Trust in Australian public services, and supports improved accountability and performance by the APS in putting people and business at the centre of policy and services.
• Following the introduction of the Charter of Partnerships and Engagement, the APSC and Services Australia are working to provide engagement and service excellence guidance. This will help operationalise the Charter and the Vision for user-centred service excellence. This could involve improved collaboration between policy, regulatory and service delivery agencies, improved capability to engage and partner on matters of importance, and ensuring policies, programs and services reflect the needs and realities of business and communities.
• To support high-quality external engagement, the APS is developing an approach to better integrate business perspectives and a market stewardship approach into the working of government, and strengthen APS partnerships with the Australian research system in the development of policies and services.

Outcome 4: The APS has effective relationships and partnerships with First Nations peoples

Outcome in summary: Supporting the APS to establish genuine partnerships with First Nations communities and organisations, based on mutual trust and respect, and underpinned by culturally-safe engagement. Genuine partnerships between the APS and First Nations people support the creation of an environment in which First Nations peoples and communities can enact self-determination.

Two initiatives under this outcome continue to progress from the first phase of reform.

• Ongoing commitment to Priority Reform One of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Priority Reform One commits to developing and strengthening structures to ensure the full involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in shared decision-making, to accelerate progressing on Closing the Gap.
• Actions to support genuine partnerships with First Nations people, including the development of a First Nations Partnership ‘playbook’ and action plan to address non-legislative barriers to building and sustaining genuine partnerships.

Pillar 3: The APS is a model employer

The ambition: Ensuring the APS is a great place to work, offering staff a quality employee experience and attracting and retaining the best and brightest public servants in a competitive labour market.

Outcome 5: The APS employee value proposition is attractive

Outcome in summary: Ensuring the APS employee value proposition is attractive, in order to attract and retain the best and brightest public servants in a competitive labour market. The APS employee value proposition is a clear statement of what the APS can offer, and focuses on the attributes and benefits offered through APS employment. It also helps to build the diversity of the APS workforce to ensure that it is representative of the community it serves.

Four initiatives under this outcome are complete and contributing to maintaining an attractive APS employee value proposition.

• The Public Sector Workplace Relations Policy 2023 came into effect in November 2023. It implements the government’s intent to reduce fragmentation of pay and conditions across the APS over time. The Statement of Common Conditions 2023 reflects the outcome of negotiations on over 90 matters raised in APS-wide bargaining with employee bargaining representatives.
• The principles of flexible work in the APS were published in April 2023, as part of the APS commitment to creating flexible workplaces that embrace diversity and meet the expectations of the Australian community and the APS workforce. They provide a framework for considering flexibility at the individual, team and organisational level.
• All agencies who participated in the 2023 APS Employee Census published their APS Census results and a responding action plan, unless a limited exemption applied. This fosters a culture of transparency and accountability for continuous improvement within agencies.
• To drive and support changes under this outcome, the Secretaries Capability and Workforce Committee, formerly known as the Future of Work Sub-committee, has been embedded into the service’s governance framework. This Secretary-level committee provides advice to Secretaries Board on workforce and capability matters to address emerging workforce pressures and demands.

Two initiatives under this outcome continue to progress from the first phase of reform.

• The government remains steadfast in its commitment to the APS reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030. Ongoing work on policy, implementation, reporting and assurance is helping to reduce emissions from APS operations, including through energy efficiency, renewable energy and usage of offsets.
• In response to the Maternity Leave Act review, a common parental leave term was negotiated through APS-wide bargaining. At 10 May 2024, all 103 enterprise agreements covering APS agencies contain the common parental leave clause. Ongoing support is being provided to agencies to implement this clause.

There is one new initiative under this outcome for the second phase of reform.

• Exploring how innovative hiring practices will help attract, engage and retain the talent the APS needs to deliver services and policy outcomes. An innovative approach to recruitment will help ensure the APS is high-performing, embraces diversity, and is efficient in its recruitment processes.

Outcome 6: The APS sets the standard for equity, inclusion and diversity

Outcome in summary: Being a model employer requires the APS to set the standard for diversity and inclusion. This includes greater accountability of gender pay inequality in the APS to inform actions to address the gender pay gap.

One initiative under this outcome is complete and supporting the APS to set the standard for equity, inclusion and diversity.

• In line with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s work to reduce the gender pay gap, the APS publicly reports on remuneration by gender. Further detail can be found in the 31 December 2023 Australian Public Service Remuneration Data, published on 7 August 2024.

One initiative under this outcome continues to progress from the first phase of reform.

• The APS Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Employment Strategy aims to ensure the APS reflects the community it serves, in accordance with the legislative function of the APS Commissioner to foster an APS workforce that reflects the diversity of the Australian population. The Strategy was released on 29 April 2024, and provides tangible actions across the areas of: cultural safety; cultural understanding; leadership and management cultural capability; inclusive recruitment and progression, and modern workforce processes; and senior leadership that reflects the diversity of the Australian community. These actions are being implemented across APS agencies.

Outcome 7: The APS sets the standard for First Nations employment and cultural competency

Outcome in summary: Building the cultural capability of the APS and increasing the number of First Nations staff, particularly at senior levels, is critical to improving outcomes for First Nations communities. Retaining First Nations employees is equally important. These initiatives support the Government’s commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. They aim to build cultural safety and eliminate racism in government institutions.

Two initiatives under this outcome continue to progress from the first phase of reform.

• This includes work to boost APS First Nations cultural capability and First Nations employment. This work contributes to Closing the Gap Priority Reform Three, which seeks to transform government institutions and organisations by identifying and eliminating racism and practising meaningful cultural safety. As part of this goal, this initiative is working to boost First Nations leadership by increasing First Nations SES to 100, growing a partnership and talent pipeline by supporting Executive Level employees, and strengthening system-wide cultural capability and accountability.
• The APS is developing a Commonwealth Monitoring and Accountability Framework to help measure and drive cultural, systemic and structural transformation across Commonwealth agencies. The Framework will support progress against Closing the Gap Priority Reform Three: to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who identify as feeling culturally safe in dealing with mainstream government institutions and agencies.

Pillar 4: The APS has the capability to do its job well

The ambition: The APS builds a skilled and confident workforce, and is a trusted institution that delivers modern policy and service solutions for decades to come.

Outcome 8: The APS continuously improves its capabilities

Outcome in summary: To support Australians now and into the future, the APS needs to continuously assess its strengths and weaknesses and take action to build capability over time, including through investment in innovative and scalable capability uplift initiatives. Ongoing work to bring core public service work back in-house further supports the organisational capability of the APS to deliver for government, strengthens the integrity of policy making and service development, and saves taxpayers money.

Six initiatives under this outcome are complete and have improved the capability of the APS.

• An initial Audit of Employment was conducted to estimate the use of external labour across the APS. A final report was published on 6 May 2023. A second audit is underway to measure and track how the public service is delivering on the government’s commitment to reduce reliance on external labour.
• To support strategic foresight capability, the APS developed an Australian Government Futures Primer. Published on 15 August 2024, the Primer is a suite of practical approaches for using futures methodologies. It helps public servants think critically and strategically about the future, to ensure policy responses address longer term challenges faced by governments. Work continues to ensure capability uplift across the service.
• The Delivering Great Policy learning resources and workshops are now delivered by the APS Academy. They provide a strong foundation for continuing uplift of policy capability across the APS. Work is ongoing to ensure content is up to date and relevant for current and future policy challenges.
• A course to strengthen APS partnerships with Ministers has been delivered by the APS Academy since 2022. It aims to build mutual respect and understanding of the different, but complementary, roles of the APS and Ministers.
• The ongoing program of capability reviews included changes to the Public Services Act 1999 with effect from 11 December 2024. This required that all departments of state, Services Australia, the Australian Taxation Office and the APSC participate in a capability review every 5 years. The reviews are independent, forward-looking and assess an agency’s ability to meet future objectives and challenges.
• Guidance on optimal management structures was updated to help agencies modernise their structures and ways of working, widen spans of control and encourage decision-making at the lowest appropriate level.

There are 6 new initiatives under this outcome for the second phase of reform.

• A second round of the Capability Reinvestment Fund provided $6.5 million in financial support for 24 agencies delivering 9 projects addressing critical skills gaps within the APS. This round focuses on the themes of enhancing data analytics and policy integration, ensuring cultural and psychological safety in physical and virtual workspaces, adapting to a green economy workforce, building APS understanding of Artificial Intelligence application in the public sector, and enhancing APS capabilities for working in Asia and the Pacific.
• To support leadership at all levels and at scale, the APS Academy has developed and implemented an APS-wide leadership and management capability uplift initiative, beginning with the EL2 cohort. A pilot APS Leadership Edge program benefited 532 EL2s from 75 agencies in 2023–24. A second iteration has benefited a further 380 participants since June 2024. Further design work is underway for a third iteration in 2025.
• The APS is reviewing mobility across the service to better facilitate the transfer of employees to areas of workforce pressure, while continuing to uphold the merit principle as the primary consideration for employment decisions. This work includes improved mobility mechanisms between the APS and the Australian Federal Police.
• As part of the APS Data, Digital and Cyber Workforce Plan, the APS is exploring how best to ensure the APS has the capabilities it needs to deliver the government’s vision set out in the Data and Digital Government Strategy and the 2023–2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy.
• An in-house consulting model, Australian Government Consulting, is delivering projects for APS clients. It continues to strengthen APS capability through transferring consulting practitioner skills and supporting agencies to achieve better value when engaging external consultants. Australian Government Consulting continues to invest in its own capabilities and service offerings.
• The APS Strategic Commissioning Framework is supporting agencies to bring their core public service work back in-house over time, to strengthen capability and reduce the risks to integrity and public trust posed by excessive outsourcing. In mid-2024, agencies reported to the APSC on their core work and set initial targets. A public update was released in October 2024, showing agencies plan to bring half a billion dollars of core work back in-house in 2024–25.