Office found (again) that the APS still

had a long way to go in complying

with the spirit of the Murray motion on

commercial-in-confidence clauses in

government contracts.

Shergold launched the Management

Advisory Committee's landmark

report, Organisational Renewal, showing

the APS was set to lose 25per cent

of its current workforce in the next five

years, which is the major blueprint for

APS workforce planning and policies

for the foreseeable future.

The launch was on March20, the

very day that the bombs started

dropping in Baghdad.

From then on war took over, but in

the meantime the Senate decided, as a

result of the children-overboard affair,

to hold an inquiry into the role and

accountability of ministerial staffers.

A retired Secretary of several

departments, Tony Blunn, questioned

the wisdom of having the Secretary of

PM&C as head of the APS.

At the end of March, Professor

Allan Fels formally launched the

Australian and New Zealand School of

Government, of which he is the

inaugural dean. In April, Shergold

announced a new implementation unit

in PM&C and said high-level advice to

the Government on Iraq was being

documented properly. He also formed

a new security division - and scorned

the idea that top public servants don't

give frank and fearless advice.

The Australian Federal Police were

having a heroic year with their successful

joint investigations and

prosecutions of the Bali perpetrators.

The financial woes - and inevitable

restructuring - of the Department of

Transport and Regional Services were

revealed; meanwhile the

Government's plans for Medicare, the

SARS epidemic and the Pan Pharmaceutical

scandal were all making

themselves felt.

The National Gallery had a leak

about leaks - and then there was the

Budget, with more jobs for the

Australian Taxation Office, the Australian

Security Intelligence Organisation

and the AFP. In a shocking

tragedy, the national president of the

Community and Public Sector Union,

Matthew Reynolds, died after a brain

aneurism, aged only 38.

Governor-Genera l Peter Hollingworth

was forced out of office by

scandal - and retired on an annual

income of $184,000.

Senate estimates returned with a

vengeance and found that the Prime

Minister's entourage's four-day stay at

the posh St Regis hotel in Rome last

year had cost $189,845.

Also in June, Shergold made two

speeches in the one week about

leadership in the APS, saying it needed

to get back to basics and re-commit

itself to strong management. He also

said the present role of political

advisers did not represent a politicisation

of the APS.

Auditor-General Pat Barrett and

ASIO chief Dennis Richardson were

each awarded an AO. And the Audit

Office showed it had lost none of its

teeth with a couple of audits on

Defence.

Shergold announced a new science

unit in PM&C to help the war on terror

and Howard announced his push for

Senate ''reform''.

The Auditor-General found the APS

would save $60million a year if it

reduced staff turnover by just 1per

cent - and slated Immigration's

management of its Family Migration

Program.

A massive $2million internal fraud

in the ATO hit the spotlight and so did

the news that the CSIRO was to lose

250 jobs. Shergold stressed the need

for proper accountability in outsourcing

contracts and ordered the APS to

adopt a uniform logo - but by

December some 40 agencies had been

exempted.

Mick Toller finished up at the Civil

Aviation Safety Authority and was

later replaced by Bruce Byron. And the

Shiny Bum Singers penned (and sang)

a version of When I'm Sixty-Four

specially for Howard's birthday on

July26.

A row broke out about the dis-

mantling of Immigration's internal

library - and the Manildra affair

spread a few ethanol fumes around the

Government.

New Australian Security Intelligence

Organisation legislation (much

modified) passed the Senate but the

Opposition misfired in an attack on

Shergold over politicisation in the

Education portfolio. In August, the

merger of three Parliamentary

departments into one finally got the

green light - with Hilary Penfold

appointed the new Secretary in

November.

Jeff Whalan was made the new head

of the Health Insurance Commission

and Patricia Scott replaced him as

deputy at PM&C.

Meanwhile the Parliamentary

inquiry into government advice on the

extent of Iraq's weapons of mass

destruction heard from the Office of

National Assessments officer, Andrew

Wilkie, who had dramatically resigned

in March over the Iraq war.

The push for a code of conduct for

ministerial staff continued. And the

long-running Senate inquiry into APS

recruitment and training found many

defects and advocated a stronger role

for the Australian Public Service

Commission.

The Bali anniversary came and

went.

The Senate inquiry into the

Members of Parliament (Staff) Act

recommended a legislated code of

conduct and statement of values for

ministerial staffers and greater security

of tenure for Public Service heads, so

far to no avail.

Behind the scenes the Uhrig report

on statutory authorities was being

digested (and rejected by some) but

was not made public.

The Kinnaird review of Defence

Procurement recommended the

Defence Materiel Organisation be

made a prescribed agency, and the hunt

was on for a highly-paid person to

replace Mick Roche, who retired.

A House of Representatives committee

recommended a form of Budget

estimates committees for the green

chamber.

Embarrassingly, a bunch of data

tapes from several departments including

PM&C were stored in a bin and

chucked out by the contractor, Telstra

Enterprise Services.

The Government announced an

administrative overhaul of superannuation

aimed at capping its $9billion

unfunded liability and the Senate

moved to compel the APS to reveal

details of its advertising deals.

Presidents Bush and Hu came and

went amid as much outrage as the

Greens could muster - not to mention

Howard's ''private'' barbie for George

Dubya.

Estimates were soon back on, with

revelations ranging from croc hunter

Steve Irwin's $175,000 quarantine

advertising deal to Opposition Senate

Leader John Faulkner's tally of

$2billion in government consultancies

since taking office in 1996.

Annual reports rained down in

Parliament House; staff from the

Australian Electoral Commission went

on strike for the first time in 20 years;

the Australian Customs Service got

gold in the Prime Minister's Awards

for Excellence in Public Sector Management

- and, later, a serve in the

Federal Court and a landmark finding

that Public Service Regulation 7(13)

under the Public Service Act 1922 was

invalid.

Defence Secretary Rick Smith

announced a restructure; the Government

admitted the aborted sale of

Russell Offices had cost more than

$2million; and the State of the Service

report came out revealing that the APS

had grown back to its 1977 size

(adjusted for Public Service Act coverage)

to 131,711 people, with 142 more

senior executives, who now number

1872.

Tougher ASIO amendments passed

Parliament; so did the Higher Education

package; Health got stuck;

Kevin Andrews replaced Tony Abbott

as Public Service minister; Mark

Latham took leadership of Labor and

got a huge bounce in the polls and

Dawn Casey bowed out of the National

Museum of Australia.

And just as the silly season arrived,

so did the Australian Film

Commission's Kim Dalton with a

Sydney-style plan to cut and paste

ScreenSound Australia. In the end, it

was he who got cut and pasted.

The Department of Education, Science

and Training had another successful

panto, this one based on Grease -

starring Jeffrey Harmer as John

Travolta and Lisa Paul as Olivia

Newton-John.

PM&C finished the year in style

with a Christmas party (attended by the

Prime Minister) wherein Shergold

swapped his Peter Pan tights for a

homburg and black sunnies, lining up

with deputies Andrew Metcalfe and

David Borthwick as the Blues Brothers

- with, we hear, a rather more

attractive backing group of ''Soul

Sisters'' provided by the female

members of the executive.

See you all in six weeks - and

many thanks to those who have helped

us with our APS coverage this year.