Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is restoring the integrity of the Australian Public Service. The Public Service Amendment Bill 2023, which we're debating today, is designed to ensure that the Australian Public Service is fit for purpose and that the APS can do its job of providing frank and fearless advice to government.

The reforms in this bill will strengthen the APS's core purpose and values, build the capability and expertise of the APS and support good governance, accountability and transparency. The majority of the amendments are recommendations from the 2019 independent review of the Australian Public Service, the Thodey review—recommendations that were ignored by those opposite in government for far too long. The Albanese government has listened to the voices of experts and the people these reforms affect. We've listened to David Thodey, and we thank him for his outstanding work in public sector reform in this country. We've listened to employees in the Australian Public Service and to representative groups, agencies and relevant groups, like the Community and Public Sector Union. We understand that a Public Service that is strong, that is capable, that is apolitical—where expertise and capability are fostered and appreciated and built on the values of integrity—is good for the country and good for Australians.

The APS is crucial for supporting Australians with the most pressing issues that they face. Every member of parliament knows this from their electorate offices. When constituents come to see us about visa matters, about Centrelink matters, about NDIS matters or about veterans' affairs matters, what they are looking for is for the Australian Public Service to serve them. In my own portfolio, our Public Service plays a crucial role in helping to keep Australians safe when they travel overseas. Public servants at the Australian Passport Office have processed a record-breaking 3.1 million passports in the past financial year. This was over one million more passports than our previous record, in 2018-19. The consular work that DFAT staff does when something goes wrong for Australians overseas is often heroic. For example, our public servants worked around the clock to successfully evacuate 364 Australians and their families from Sudan during the crisis earlier this year—a 24/7 consular crisis response in incredibly difficult circumstances, far from home, across multiple nations—keeping Australians safe when they were overseas. I'm so proud of those public servants and thank them for their commitment.

The APS works hard to support Australians, often at the times they need it the most. In order to do these things well, we need a Public Service that is truly independent, non-partisan and able to provide advice to the government of the day without fear or favour, a Public Service that is strong and independent and can give government ministers advice that they might not always like. But with the handing down of the robodebt royal commission's final report, we've now seen a compelling case study of what happens when our Public Service is diminished and degraded. Robodebt was a national scandal. It was an illegal program. It accused hundreds of thousands of Australians of being crooks, and it continued for four years, despite countless red flags, despite the legality and the operation of the program being raised repeatedly by Centrelink clients, by activists flagging these issues in social media campaigns, by journalists inquiring into the issue, by experts and lawyers within the government itself and by whistleblowers within their department.

Justice Murphy, presiding over the robodebt class action case, described the scheme as a 'shameful chapter' and a 'massive failure in public administration'. That's why the Albanese Labor government initiated a robodebt royal commission, in order to uncover the depths of what had occurred in the scheme. Now that we've seen the royal commission's final report and have heard the evidence given to the royal commission, it's clear that this was the most shameful moment in Australia's Public Service history. Robodebt is a devastating example of what happens when the Public Service isn't empowered to give frank and fearless advice.

In the 46 days of public hearings we heard disturbing stories of people who relied on the safety net of government being hounded by that government, with no means of fighting back. The Australians who appeared before the royal commission to share their stories spoke frankly and fearlessly, and they bore witness to the failures of their government. We heard stories like that of pensioner Rosemary Gay, who was forced to make repayments on a wrongful $65,000 robodebt. While she was actively contesting it, the debt collectors took money from her pension to start repaying this debt, when it never existed. She said that the trauma would remain with her forever. We heard from Jennifer Miller, who went through the unimaginable devastating experience of losing her son to suicide after he was chased by the robodebt debt collectors.

We heard from Ricky Aik, who said that the time when he was hounded to repay debts he didn't owe was 'the worst period' of his life. Mr Aik said, 'It was hard to sleep, hard to concentrate on work,' because his own government, the government that he relied on, was hounding him wrongfully—illegally. We heard from Felicity Button, who was given a debt notice of $11,000, which left her unable to afford medication for her daughter. We heard the story of Sandra Bevan, who said she couldn't sleep at night and she dreaded the phone ringing whilst she was being pursued over a debt—a debt that never existed. Ms Bevan was meticulous. She said that, living pay cheque to pay cheque, she would 'often go without food' so her kids 'could have more food', and that she would over-report her income 'just in case'. When she was told about the debt, she knew that it couldn't be correct. Despite her attempts to correct the mistake, the debt collectors called and called, haranguing and attacking her. She said, 'The kids had already lost their dad, and I was trying my best to keep the house, a roof above our head.'

What we witnessed, ultimately, was a catastrophic failure of public administration, under a succession of ministers from the coalition government, who were responsible for this scheme over four years. I want to thank all of the Australians who gave evidence to the royal commission for sharing what were often extremely difficult and traumatic stories. The royal commission final report has demonstrated unequivocally that the Morrison government ministers oversaw an illegal scheme which cost lives and caused unthinkable trauma to so many Australians. As Commissioner Holmes said:

Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals. In essence, people were traumatised on the off-chance they might owe money. It was a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms.

But how did this all come about? The robodebt royal commission's final report makes it clear that the human cost, the economic cost, of robodebt is squarely due to the culture of public administration cultivated by those opposite under first the Turnbull and then the Morrison government. In the robodebt royal commission final report Commissioner Holmes said:

It is remarkable how little interest there seems to have been in ensuring the Scheme's legality, how rushed its implementation was, how little thought was given to how it would affect welfare recipients and the lengths to which public servants were prepared to go to oblige ministers on a quest for savings.

It's quite clear robodebt was the inevitable result of those opposite's ideological approach to both Australia's welfare system and the Australian Public Service.

The former Prime Minister, the member for Cook, deliberately reshaped the Public Service to create a culture where public servants were unable to perform that core role of providing independent, fearless advice. He made his expectations for the Australian Public Service clear in a speech at the Institute of Public Administration in 2019. This speech was given before the comprehensive review of the Australian Public Service was completed, pre-empting, shamefully, the findings of the Thodey review, which the amendments to the Public Service Act that we are debating today draw upon. His message in this speech was clear. The message to public servants was to 'know your place'. He said in this speech, 'Ministers must not allow a policy vacuum to be created, expecting the Public Service to fill it and to do their job.' The robodebt ministers set the tone within the government and within the Public Service. They set the agenda and they owned the consequences. The member for Cook said in his speech:

It is about telling governments how things can be done—

that's the role of the Public Service—

not just the risks of doing them, or saying why they shouldn't be done. The public service is meant to be an enabler of government policy, not an obstacle.

The Public Service was certainly an enabler of the robodebt scheme. Unfortunately, no-one under the previous government was held accountable for this. In the member for Cook's speech to the Institute of Public Administration, he insisted that accountability to the parliament and to the public, for the government's policies, rested not with the Public Service but with ministers. He said:

Only those who have put their name on a ballot can truly understand the significance of that accountability. I know you might feel sometimes that you are absolutely right in what you are suggesting, but I can tell you when it is you that is facing the public and must look your constituents in the eye, it gives you a unique perspective.

Unfortunately, despite preaching this accountability, the member for Cook has consistently refused to be accountable for the catastrophic failures of the robodebt scheme. He set the culture, he set the policy direction, he won't take responsibility for the outcomes.

Indeed, he has passed the buck. He's blamed the public servants who were advising him and blamed his colleagues repeatedly, and he has had the chutzpah to claim it was distinguished royal commissioner Holmes that didn't understand the way government worked. This scandal, this failure of accountability and this failure of frank and fearless advice within government is why we need amendments to the Public Service Act in this bill. This is why we in the Albanese government have listened to the advice of experts like David Thodey. This is one of the reasons why we have introduced these amendments to strengthen the Australian Public Service's core purpose and values.

These amendments include adding a new Australian Public Service value of stewardship which all APS employees must uphold; requiring all agency heads to uphold and promote, in addition to the APS values and employment principles, the new APS purpose statement; and reaffirming the Australian Public Service's apolitical nature by clarifying and strengthening the act so that ministers cannot direct agency heads on staffing decisions. The amendments will build the capability and expertise of the APS, including by making regular, independent and transparent capability reviews a five-yearly requirement for each department of state, Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office. Capability reviews will assess organisational strengths and areas for development, with reports and action plans responding to findings required to be released publicly. It will also introduce amendments to support good governance, accountability and transparency, including by requiring publication of agencies' APS census results and an action plan that responds to results. This will foster a culture of transparency and accountability for continuous improvement within agencies. It will also require agency heads to implement measures to enable decisions to be made by employees at the lowest appropriate classification for those decisions. This will ensure that decision-making is not raised to a higher level than necessary, reducing unnecessary hierarchy and empowering APS employees.

These reforms are necessary to ensure that we have a robust, apolitical public service that can serve all Australians. They are necessary to ensure a disaster like robodebt never happens again. I would say to members of this House that this is a responsibility that we all must take incredibly seriously. It's no small thing to say that the worst failure of public administration in our history happened while we were in this parliament. We need to take responsibility for ensuring that this can never happen again. We need to learn the lessons from this scandal.

I think all members of parliament, but particularly ministers and those on the other side aspiring to be ministers, should read the findings of the robodebt royal commission final report closely. They should listen to the evidence of those Australians who were courageous enough to share their trauma with the royal commission. Those Australians put their trust in government at their time of need and were so badly failed. They were not only let down by the government that should be there to represent them and by the public servants that should be there to represent them but harassed and prosecuted as a result. This can never be allowed to happen again. We need change in the culture of both the Australian Public Service but also this place. The bill before the House is an important step in delivering this culture change.

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