I worked in the National Disability Insurance Agency just prior to the planning and assessment functions being contracted out to private companies. This was based on the current governments belief that the 'operational' function would be best delivered by the private rather than public sector.
Regardless of the motives behind this decision, the participants in the scheme and the majority of planners who work for the external providers, see that the National Disability Insurance Scheme is not meeting its intended purpose.
While on paper the change its operational function to delivery by the private sector, the reality is this was driven by reducing the financial impact on the tax payer, and not about what is best for those who need disability services. This real life example highlights the risk in thinking private providers are best placed to provide those functions that have traditionally been provided by the public sector.
My great fear is that this current government has a bias towards the private sector and believe they are best placed to deliver a sizable portion of public functions. The issues with the NDIA the energy market, show that private providers are not interested in what is best for users, but place profit margins above people.
Based on this governments current performance, I do not think this APS review will improve Australian society, and worry that what ever 'improvements' are made, will have to come at the cost of the Australian public.
I realise that this submission will have no impact on the APS review, this is more about the current government wanting to further trim down the public service and shift as many functions as possible to the private sector; not about what is best for the public service and by extension the public.