Role and purpose of the Board

Legislation

Part 8 of the Public Service Act 1999, through amendments that took effect in 2013, establishes the Secretaries Board and describes its membership, functions and operating arrangements as follows:

64 Secretaries Board

  1. The Secretaries Board is established by this section.
  2. The Secretaries Board consists of the following members:
    1. The Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department, as Chair;
    2. The Secretary of each other Department;
    3. The Commissioner;
    4. Such other persons as are nominated in writing by the Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department
  3. The Secretaries Board has the following functions:
    1. To take responsibility for the stewardship of the APS and for developing and implementing strategies to improve the APS;
    2. To identify strategic priorities for the APS and consider issues that affect the APS;
    3. To set an annual work program, and direct sub-committees to develop strategies to address APS-wide issues and make recommendations to the Secretaries Board;
    4. To draw together advice from senior leaders in government, business and the community;
    5. To work collaboratively and model leadership behaviours.
  4. The Secretaries Board may establish one or more senior leadership groups, consisting of members determined by the Secretaries Board, to assist the Secretaries Board in performing its functions.

Board structure over time

While the core membership of the Board (the Secretaries and the Commissioner) is set out in legislation, other persons who have been nominated as members of the Board has varied over time at the discretion of the Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet. From time to time, Board members have included:

  • The Chief of the Defence Force
  • The Director-General of National Intelligence
  • The Commissioner of Taxation
  • The Chief Executive Officer of Services Australia
  • The Chief Executive Officer of the NIAA.

Previous reflections on the role of the Board

As part of reviews of the capability and performance of the Australian Public Service, consideration has been given to the role of a Secretaries Board.

The 2010 report Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration established the Secretaries Board through amendments to the Public Service Act 1999 to strengthen leadership and ‘…drive reform in areas including strategic policy, citizen-centred service delivery and collaboration across the APS’.1 Prior to this Secretaries engaged collectively through a Management Advisory Committee.

The 2019 report Our Public Service Our Future (the Thodey Review) identified the importance of the Secretaries Board operating as collective stewards of the APS and managing the APS as an integrated organisation2, moving from information sharing to decision-making, taking a whole of service view and aligning in a systemic way on government priorities.

The Thodey Review recommended that legislative amendments be considered to support the Board to lead and govern the APS, including the power for Board decisions to bind agencies and that it be a highly visible APS leadership body. The November 2023 Thodey Review Progress Report noted that further legislative or ministerial authority along these lines was not considered necessary at this stage, but may be revisited after the second phase of APS reform concludes3. The second phase of APS reform strengthens the role and powers of the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the APS Commissioner. 

International comparisons on the role of the Board

The Australian Secretaries Board is unique among comparable nations. A permanent Board of all departmental secretaries and the Commissioner, established in legislation, with a broad remit to advance public sector wide strategies, stewardship and leadership behaviours does not form part of the governance structures of the like nations reviewed (New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom).

  • New Zealand enshrines the concept of interdepartmental executive boards in legislation, but these are drawn together on a needs basis to address particular policy or delivery challenges, and coordinate strategic policy and budgeting matters. The NZ interdepartmental boards bring together a subset of secretaries with policy responsibility for a particular issue, meeting from time to time as required to advance particular issues.
  • Canada establishes a number of Deputy-Minister level advisory committees in the areas of policy coordination, human resource management and public sector management and renewal. Compared to the Australian Board, these are akin to Sub-committees and comprise sub-groups of secretaries. While the role of the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet (Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet equivalent) and Deputy Ministers (Secretary equivalent) are set out in Canada’s Public Service Employment Act, there is no legislative basis for the committee structure.
  • The UK has a Civil Service Board comprising the Head of the Civil Service, the Cabinet Secretary and a cross-section of permanent secretaries. The responsibilities of the Civil Service Board are similar to that of the Australian Secretaries Board, in providing strategic leadership of the civil service and considering shared challenges and direction. The key difference, however, is that the Civil Service Board is not established in legislation and does not comprise all permanent secretaries.

A more detailed international comparison is at Attachment 2.

  1. Commonwealth of Australia, Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration 2010, p.x and p.49↩
  2. Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Our Purpose Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service 2019, pp. 279-281↩
  3. Commonwealth of Australia. APS Reform. Thodey Review Progress Report as at November 2023. Recommendations 37 and 38↩