The current Board

Membership and terms of reference

The structure and operation of the current Secretaries Board came into effect in September 2022.

Its Terms of Reference is at Attachment 3.

The membership of the current Board comprises:

  • All departmental secretaries, with the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as Chair;
  • The Australian Public Service Commissioner, as Deputy Chair;
  • The CEO of the NIAA (while the terms of reference refer to this role as a co-opted participant as required by the relevant meeting agenda, the CEO has attended all meetings across all agenda items since September 2022).

The current Board has committed to focus on:

  • First Nations priorities including Closing the Gap;
  • APS reform priorities;
  • Budget and economic priorities;
  • Other priorities as determined.

Agendas and meeting frequency

The Board meets monthly (generally on the first Wednesday of the month) for three hours, with a general expectation that all members attend, or are represented by proxies where substantive acting arrangements are in place. There is strong attendance at the Board by departmental secretaries.

The agenda comprises standing items aligned to the Board’s agreed areas of focus (First Nations, APS reform, economic and fiscal update) together with an update from the Chair. Other agenda items are identified through a variety of processes:

  • nomination by a departmental Secretary or the APS Commissioner;
  • the secretariat located in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet identifies items in consultation with departmental contacts and the APSC;
  • generated by a previous Board agenda item or Sub-committee report.

A recent innovation is to require a nomination form to be completed with authorisation by the Board chair for an item to be listed on the agenda. A Secretary must sponsor an item for it to come on to the agenda.

The expectation of the Board is that each Sub-committee (described below) provides a written report to the Board on at least a six-monthly basis.

Sub-committees

Five Sub-committees of the Board operated in 2023 as follows:

  • the Chief Operating Officers (COO) Committee (Chair: Chief Operating Officer, Department of Social Services)
    • manages whole of government operational and implementation matters and drives delivery of agreed initiatives of the APS reform agenda under the direction of the Board;
    • attended by COOs from all departments and other large agencies;
    • no departmental Secretaries attend the COO Committee as it is intended as a forum for the COOs to work together and to advise the Board on operational issues across the APS.
  • the Future of Work Committee (Co-chairs: Secretary Attorney General’s Department; APS Commissioner)
    • provides advice to the Board on opportunities to develop the best value proposition for the APS in the employment market through attraction, employment, retention, hierarchy and classification;
    • attended by select Board members plus the Australian Statistician (data profession lead), CEOs of Services Australia and the Digital Transformation Agency, Deputy Secretary ATO (HR profession Lead), Chair of the COO Committee.
  • the Secretaries Digital and Data Committee (Co-chairs: Secretaries Department of Finance; Department of Social Services)
    • provides strategic leadership to promote an APS enterprise approach to the planning, coordination, investment, assurance and delivery of trusted and secure digital and data capabilities across government;
    • attended by select Board members plus the Commissioner ATO, Australian Statistician, CEO Services Australia, CEO DTA, Director-General Australian Signals Directorate.
  • the Partnership Priorities Committee (Co-Chairs: Secretary Department of Social Services; CEO NIAA)
    • steers better policy and delivery outcomes by embedding partnership culture and behaviours in the public service to support effective engagement and co-design with community and delivery partners;
    • attended by select Board members.
  • the Strategic Leadership Group (Chair: Secretary Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet)
    • sought to enable strategic, forward-looking discussion on significant public policy or administration matters through an extended discussion following every third meeting of the Board;
    • attended by all Board members plus the Director-General National Intelligence, Chief of the Defence Force, Commissioner ATO and CEO Services Australia.

Focus of the Board in 2023

A review of the minutes of the 13 Board meetings from October 2022 to December 2023 shows that the Board’s identified priorities dominated the agendas:

  • APS reform: a standing item that focused on delivery of the Government’s APS reform initiatives;
  • First Nations: an update was provided as a standing item at every Board meeting. Progress on Closing the Gap and the Central Australia Plan was also considered;
  • Economic and Fiscal update: continued as a standing item focused on key economic and fiscal developments of relevance to Secretaries.

A selection of substantive items considered by the Board across the period and, in some cases, at multiple meetings, included:

  • APS wide operating arrangements (flexible work, APS bargaining and workplace relations, SES performance framework, cyber security management, specialists in the APS);
  • APS purpose statement;
  • APS integrity – supported by the establishment of an APS Integrity Taskforce;
  • response to the Robodebt Royal Commission including code of conduct processes;
  • procurement, consultant engagement and procurement capability uplift;
  • place-based partnerships and stakeholder engagement;
  • report on the Review of Public Sector Board appointments;
  • myGov user audit.

External speakers attended Board meetings to share information and at times seek Board action.

The Minister for the Public Service, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, addressed the Board meeting of December 2022 and the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, provided an update at the December 2023 meeting.

The Board undertook a dialogue with its Canadian counterparts through the Canada-Australia Public Policy Initiative (CAPPI) virtual meeting in November 2023.