SUBMISSION TO THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE
My main concerns relate to:
• the impacts our society is having on the global and Australian environments.
• the declining capacity of the environment to support the current and increasing Australian population.
• the lack of long term planning to address environmental issues.
• the predominance in the SES of people with economic and business qualifications and experience.
• the lack of environmental compliance action - in recent years a culture of not enforcing environmental Acts and Regulations at national and state levels.
I would like to see:
• long term tenure for all members of the SES rather than the senior SES being on contracts.
• affirmative action to increase the number of people with environmental qualifications and experience in the SES across all government Departments.
• a move away from the view that expertise can be hired/contracted in. The APS needs to recruit more officers with scientific/technical expertise.
• more input from scientists and environmental managers into decision making across the APS.
• Ministerial briefing processes across all Departments that inform Ministers about the environmental impacts that result from their proposed decisions rather than just social and economic impacts.
• acceptance in government decision making that living standards can’t continue to increase (or even be maintained) at current levels without severely impacting the capacity of the planet to supply the goods and services on which our lifestyles are based.
• a public service that consistently has a long term view about the impacts of policy decisions on future generations and the ecological condition of Australian environments, rather than facilitating short term political fixes with unnecessarily high environmental impacts.
• recognition that climate change will have severe impacts on our ability to function as a coherent society within a few decades, making it more difficult for the federal government to project its power over a country the size of Australia.
• recognition that the environment is more than great landscapes and photogenic animals - our very survival depends on clean water, uncontaminated food, unpolluted air and fertile soils.
• recognition that a globalized economy is a much more energy hungry economy than regional and local economies where food and energy is produced locally.
• recognition that as environments degrade it is likely that the pressures to not enforce environmental regulations will change to pressures to water-down environmental regulations as is currently happening with the US EPA. This must be resisted.
David Jenkins
Download (21.98 KB)SUBMISSION TO THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE
My main concerns relate to:
the impacts our society is having on the global and Australian environments.
the declining capacity of the environment to support the current and increasing Australian population.
the lack of long term planning to address environmental issues.
the predominance in the SES of people with economic and business qualifications and experience.
the lack of environmental compliance action - in recent years a culture of not enforcing environmental Acts and Regulations at national and state levels.
I would like to see:
long term tenure for all members of the SES rather than the senior SES being on contracts.
affirmative action to increase the number of people with environmental qualifications and experience in the SES across all government Departments.
a move away from the view that expertise can be hired/contracted in. The APS needs to recruit more officers with scientific/technical expertise.
more input from scientists and environmental managers into decision making across the APS.
Ministerial briefing processes across all Departments that inform Ministers about the environmental impacts that result from their proposed decisions rather than just social and economic impacts.
acceptance in government decision making that living standards can’t continue to increase (or even be maintained) at current levels without severely impacting the capacity of the planet to supply the goods and services on which our lifestyles are based.
a public service that consistently has a long term view about the impacts of policy decisions on future generations and the ecological condition of Australian environments, rather than facilitating short term political fixes with unnecessarily high environmental impacts.
recognition that climate change will have severe impacts on our ability to function as a coherent society within a few decades, making it more difficult for the federal government to project its power over a country the size of Australia.
recognition that the environment is more than great landscapes and photogenic animals - our very survival depends on clean water, uncontaminated food, unpolluted air and fertile soils.
recognition that a globalized economy is a much more energy hungry economy than regional and local economies where food and energy is produced locally.
recognition that as environments degrade it is likely that the pressures to not enforce environmental regulations will change to pressures to water-down environmental regulations as is currently happening with the US EPA. This must be resisted.
David Jenkins