Submission:
- Increased use of external consultants and contractors is a threat to the independence and apolitical position of the APS. Frank and fearless advice can only be provided when the personnel are truly independent and not accountable to organisations which clearly have political influence and invested interests in particulat political agendas. Whereas external assistance from specialist organisations to support APS personnel is invaluable, the APS must retain the ownership and responsibility of the decision support it provides to Government. This is threatened when APS resources are left so thin that contractors and consultants are used to provide significant horse-power and become the dominant force behind the APS.
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Salary levels need to be reviewed to ensure the calibre of personnel attracted and retained by the APS is of a high standard.
Over the past decade APS salaries have eroded and failed to keep up with even the basic cost of living. This has resulted in many high-calibre personnel leaving for corporate or local government positions where salary and benefits are markedly better. This is also contributing to the need for the APS to buy in contractor and consultant horse-power, resulting in the independence of the APS being compromised (see point 1) and placing increased pressure and workload on the high-calibre and dedicated few who remain (and are being pushed to breaking point). Attracting and retaining high-calibre personnel can only be addressed by ensuring that employment packages are competitive AND remain competitive. Good career paths must be made available and maintained. The continued short-term view of employing individuals and then failing to look after them is expensive and inefficient, resulting in a loss of significant APS corporate knowledge. - Technology within the APS is often way behind the corporate world. This has a two major impacts: (i) colaboration with industry becomes increasingly difficult and makes the sharing of information and data time-consuming and often compromised; (ii) the efficient operation of the APS is severly impacted by the amount of downtime that is lost due to technology outages and associated issues. For example - it should not take up to 3 hours to be able to share information from a USB thumb (storage) drive! New technologies are continuing to drive a more flexible and efficient business world, but the APS is constantly being left behind.