Secretaries Board

Functions

Section 64 of the Public Service Act 1999 establishes the Secretaries Board. Its functions are:

• to take responsibility for the stewardship of the APS and for developing and implementing strategies to improve the APS
• to identify strategic priorities for the APS and consider issues that affect the APS
• to set an annual work program
• to direct subcommittees to develop strategies to address APS-wide issues and make recommendations to the Secretaries Board
• to draw together advice from senior leaders in government, business and the community
• to work collaboratively and model leadership behaviours.

Members of the Secretaries Board keep their autonomy and statutory responsibilities as the heads of their respective departments.

Membership

The Secretaries Board is chaired by the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Its membership comprises:

• the secretaries of all Australian Government departments
• the Secretary for Public Sector Reform
• the Australian Public Service Commissioner (as Deputy Chair).

The CEO of the National Indigenous Australians Agency is co-opted to board meetings to report on First Nations reforms and any related agenda items.

Meetings

The Secretaries Board meets monthly, usually on the first Wednesday.

The board is committed to an agenda that devotes sufficient time for strategic, forward-looking discussions on significant public policy or administration matters, while balancing the need to discuss regular reports relating to matters of shared interest.

Communiques

The Secretaries Board is committed to modelling transparency with regard to communicating its priorities and decisions.

Communiques were established from the October 2022 meeting.

2024

• 12 June 2024 meeting communique
• 7 May 2024 meeting communique
• 10 April 2024 meeting communique
  • Review of the Secretaries Board
• 14 March 2024 meeting communique
• 7 February 2024 meeting communique

2023

• 6 December 2023 meeting communique
• 13 November 2023 meeting communique
  • Louder than words: An APS integrity action plan
  • Integrity good practice guide
• 11 October 2023 meeting communique
• 13 September 2023 meeting communique
• 16 August 2023 meeting communique
• 11 July 2023 meeting communique
• 14 June 2023 meeting communique
• 10 May 2023 meeting communique
• 12 April 2023 meeting communique
• 8 March 2023 meeting communique
• 8 February 2023 meeting communique
  • Attachment A: APS Integrity Taskforce Terms of Reference
  • Attachment B: Strategic Leadership Group Terms of Reference

2022

• 14 December 2022 meeting communique
• 19 October 2022 meeting communique

Terms of reference

The Secretaries Board Terms of Reference were updated and officially endorsed at the 7 May 2024 meeting.