The Turnbull government has put the brakes on calls from former public service leaders for a new Coombs-style royal commission on government administration, saying a long review would be a waste of money.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Former Department of Finance boss Jane Halton joined calls for consideration of the future of the public service this week but warned a royal commission risked creating the impression of a crisis or serious wrongdoing in government departments and agencies.
Former Defence secretary Dennis Richardson suggested consideration of a second Coombs commission this month - a reference to the landmark Whitlam-era review of government administration led by former reserve bank governor HC "Nugget" Coombs - while previous Prime Minister and Cabinet bosses Terry Moran and Ian Watt have supported calls for a royal commission or significant review service delivery, communication and structures.
Retiring after 40 years as a public servant, the former ambassador, DFAT boss, ASIO director-general and prime ministerial adviser said a commission could help public service institutions "go back to their philosophical foundations".
"I sometimes wonder whether the time has not come for a second royal commission, because community attitudes and standards have changed," Mr Richardson said.
"The way in which ministers, ministerial advisers and public servants work together has completely changed, and I wonder whether we should not be revisiting the... philosophical foundations of that," he said.
The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, Michaelia Cash, distanced the government from the comments in a statement to Fairfax Media.
"The government is committed to ensuring the public service operates as an effective, efficient and professional organisation," she said.
"While always open to considering improvements to the public service, the government does not consider a time consuming and costly royal commission would be an efficient use of taxpayers' money."
Ms Halton, who quit in September after 33 years as a public servant and 14 as a departmental secretary, said a review or assessment which was not as slow and expensive as a royal commission could provide a better approach.
"These days royal commissions tend to be about wrong doing, or some sort of immediate crisis," she said.
"They are usually enormously expensive, they're slow, they lumber. If you think about the problem we're all tackling here, it's how do you deal with a modern world which is much more agile, much more data-rich, and expectations are very different.
"Geoff Gallop talked about the propensity to generalise and catastrophise. I think the risk is in something which has a royal commission stamp on it, not only is it not going to get you where you want in a time very soon at all, but whether or not it going to tar the whole world with a really bad brush is a fair question to ask."
An ANZ board director, Ms Halton said a review could ensuring modern, responsive and effective administration, while maintaining the public service's philosophical underpinnings.
"It's not like we have come to some fork in the road where there's a choice between the right hand or left hand turn, but the question of how the place stays modern and current is a challenge for people.
"Some of that can be about needing new skills and some of that can be about needing new tools. Some of it probably is a clearer articulation about what the relationship is between the public service and both Parliament and the government and how that should work," she said.
The the two-year Coombs commission, which served as a policy-review body, included evidence from former prime ministers John Gorton and Billy McMahon, departments heads, academics and interest groups.
