Departmental secretaries : introductory notes
By: PODGER, A. S
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Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Oxford : Blackwell Publishers Limited, December 1997Australian Journal of Public Administration 56, 4, p. 11-12Abstract: Termination and appointment of some departmental secretaries before and after the 1996 election triggered considerable unease within the Australian public service, not only among departmental secretaries. Yet the environment which facilitated such changes had been evolving inexorably over several decades through legislstive changes, debates fostered by official inquires and the broader context of change in the Australian economy and workforce. A dispassionate review was called for to ensure that the important issues raised last year back from the immediate emotions and avoiding any suggestion of inappropriate public debate between current senior public servants and the new government (and the new opposition). I believe the articles offered in this symposium provide a major contribution to that dispassionate review, and hope they receive the attention they deseve from the parliament and senior commentators on public affairs. They not only dissect the issues, but remind us importantly of several decades of public administration history in Australia, the UK and Canada. These introductory notes are not intended to express my personal views on the suggestions made, but to draw attention to some of the underlying themes and issues
Termination and appointment of some departmental secretaries before and after the 1996 election triggered considerable unease within the Australian public service, not only among departmental secretaries. Yet the environment which facilitated such changes had been evolving inexorably over several decades through legislstive changes, debates fostered by official inquires and the broader context of change in the Australian economy and workforce. A dispassionate review was called for to ensure that the important issues raised last year back from the immediate emotions and avoiding any suggestion of inappropriate public debate between current senior public servants and the new government (and the new opposition). I believe the articles offered in this symposium provide a major contribution to that dispassionate review, and hope they receive the attention they deseve from the parliament and senior commentators on public affairs. They not only dissect the issues, but remind us importantly of several decades of public administration history in Australia, the UK and Canada. These introductory notes are not intended to express my personal views on the suggestions made, but to draw attention to some of the underlying themes and issues
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