John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

It is an important issue that Senator Moore raises in her supplementary question. The commissioner will establish a new ethics team in the APSC. It will assist rather than direct. While emphasising the service-wide standards expected of all public servants, the team’s approach will recognise that individual agencies face particular challenges and acknowledge that some agencies already have arrangements in place for providing advice specifically relevant to their circumstances. The team will assist a network of agencies’ ethics contact officers in responding to ethical issues within agencies. In conjunction with the commissioner, it will also handle queries from agency heads, SES employees and other staff. Although much of its work will be public, the team will be able to handle sensitive issues with appropriate confidentiality when that is required.