No more ‘jobs for mates’ as Labor promises public sector board review
Public sector board appointments will be the focus of an Albanese government review aiming to restore merit to the process and stop political allies from being handed lucrative positions.
Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher will on Sunday announce the review, pitching it as the latest component of the government’s election promise to bolster trust in public institutions and improve integrity.
“This review is all about putting an end to the jobs for mates culture that defined the previous Morrison government’s public sector appointments,” she will say in a speech on Sunday.
“Being on a government board should be about what you know, not who you know.”
The review, which the government hopes to finalise by mid-year, will be led by Lynelle Briggs, a former Australian Public Service Commissioner, chief executive of Medicare and an aged care royal commissioner.
The review will focus on making board recruitment more transparent, improving the diversity of board membership and clarifying the role of public sector boards and the skills required. It will also look at how ministers are advised on the selection of board members.
Gallagher will tell the Labor-aligned Chifley Research Centre event in Canberra the Morrison government made a mockery of the board appointment system.
She will note that half of the Productivity Commission’s Board members have a political connection to the Coalition, and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was filled with members with Liberal Party links. The government recently abolished the AAT due to concerns about politicisation.
“I look forward to Ms Briggs’ robust recommendations on how the government can put merit and integrity back at the centre of the public sector appointment process,” Gallagher will say, according to an excerpt of the speech released ahead of the event.
Labor says it will use its first term of government to begin the process of remaking the Australian public service, which it claims has been hollowed out through cuts and outsourcing to consultants, lost its ability to develop sound policy, and is reluctant to give the frank and fearless advice it is supposed to provide.
Some of these problems – which former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis has been appointed as public service head to address – have been highlighted during the ongoing royal commission into the robo-debt scandal.
The public sector board report will be published after the review is finalised in mid-2023.
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Labor vows to end ‘jobs for mates’ culture of government boards
Labor is likely to adopt stricter controls to stop “jobs for mates” on government boards after ordering a review of appointment standards and processes by former Australian Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs.
Compulsory advertising of roles, professional selection procedures and tracking the performance of board members are expected to emerge from the review of federal government boards, authorities and tribunals.
Former public service commissioner and Medicare CEO Lynelle Briggs is to lead a major push to lift the performance of public sector boards. Alex Ellinghausen
Ms Briggs will also consider the standards expected of private sector boards in Australia, including their continous disclosure obligations, and whether Australian government boards should meet those, or a different standard.
Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher told a Labor-aligned Chifley Research Centre event in Canberra on Sunday that the former government’s approach to political appointments made a mockery of the process. She said board appointments were politically motivated rather than based on merit.
“We know that half of the Productivity Commission’s board members have a political connection to the coalition and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was stacked with appointments with clear Liberal party links,” Senator Gallagher said.
“This review is all about putting an end to the jobs for mates culture that defined the previous Morrison government’s public sector appointments,” Senator Gallagher said.
”Being on a government board should be about what you know, not who you know.
“I look forward to Ms Briggs’ robust recommendations on how the Government can put merit and integrity back at the centre of the public sector appointment process.”
The review will propose appropriate standards for the processes by which board members are appointed, including the identification of talent pools and the professional qualifications and experience required.
Ms Briggs has also been tasked with improving the diversity of board membership, including gender, multicultural, first nations, and geographic representation.
There are nearly 1000 different government agencies and entities in the federal government, but there is little central oversight of appointments and ongoing performance, and policies for advertising vacancies are ad hoc.
The Grattan Institute last year reported that political appointees occupy 21 per cent of federal government board positions.
It found the problem of appointing political mates was evident across all jurisdictions in Australia. Furthermore, 87 per cent of government-business enterprise board members with political connections were from the same side of politics as the appointing government.
Grattan called for a transparent, merit-based selection process for all public appointments, overseen by a new public appointments commissioner. It called for independent panels to vet candidates and for ministers to be only able to select from short-listed candidates.
Ms Briggs was one of two royal commissioners to undertake an inquiry into the aged care system. The commissioners famously split overwhat agency was best to lead the reforms.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus late last year abolished the entire Administrative Appeals Tribunal claiming the tribunal’s public standing had been irreversibly damaged as a result of the actions of the former government over nine years.
Mr Dreyfus said the appointment of 85 former Liberal MPs, former Liberal staffers and other close Liberal associates without any merit-based selection process had “fatally compromised the AAT”.
The Rudd Labor government established a merit-based selection process for ABC and SBS board appointments, after claims the broadcasters had been stacked with Coalition supporters with little media or public sector experience.
That panel fell by the wayside under the previous coalition government, but wasreinstituted by the incoming Labor government.
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro was forced to withdraw from a plum $500,000 a year New York-based state trade commissioners job, amid findings the appointment had not been managed fully in keeping with the requirements of the relevant public sector code of ethics and conduct.
