A KPMG analysis, issued yesterday, comparing the Australian Public Service with overseas bureaucracies, found it ''performs soundly'', but ''has some way to go if it is to realise the ambition to be the best in the world''. ''A high-performing public service of the future is likely to require a broader range of skills, ideas and tools,'' the report said.

Mr Rudd, a former bureaucrat, said the public service met the highest standards for independence, professionalism, ethics and efficiency.

''But at the same time, its challenge now is to become more strategic and forward-looking, more outward-looking, and more citizen-centred,'' he said at the Robert Garran oration in Brisbane. ''The APS needs to improve in three key areas: service delivery; the development of excellent policy advice, and planning to ensure it has the highest-quality workforce to meet the challenges ahead.'' The community still saw government agencies as bureaucratic and unresponsive to individual needs, he said.

He cites Centrelink's response to the Victorian bushfires as the ''sort of integrated approach to service delivery that we need to spread across all government agencies''.

The agency ran 10 community service hubs that offered victims rapid access to government services, instead of forcing them to visit several different offices for help.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times