A Bill to modernise the public service and ensure greater value for taxpayer money by government departments and agencies has today passed the Parliament.
The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Bill sets out core principles and behaviours that public service officials using taxpayer funds should follow.
This Bill is another step to achieve efficiencies in government, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Senator Penny Wong, said.
Under the changes, public servants will be required to recognise and address risk currently not specified in the Financial Management Act and better collaborate with business and the not-for-profit sectors.
We are modernising the public sector to ensure it meets communitys expectations today and tomorrow.
Improving the way the public sector operates not only improves the services they provide to the community, it also reduces the cost to the taxpayer, Senator Wong said.
The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Bill replaces the existing framework which was best practice when it was introduced in 1997 but is now outdated.
The current framework, while it has served us well for many years, now constrains public servants when it should enable them to do better, Senator Wong said.
The passage of this Bill follows a significant consultation process that commenced in 2010. The Department of Finance and Deregulation has met with officials from most agencies in the Commonwealth in this time, and has worked closely with them to ensure benefits will be realised.
Now that the Bill has been passed, rules will be created to specifically meet the frameworks objective.
The Department will establish a Working Group to work closely with stakeholders, in particular the not-for-profit sector, to finalise these rules, Senator Wong said.
This Bill is part of a comprehensive reform agenda to modernise and improve the performance of our public sector.
This is about lifting our public service to be world-leading.
Senator Wong thanked the Chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Public Affairs and Audit, Rob Oakeshott MP, for showing parliamentary leadership on this important issue.