Whatever happened to frank and fearless? : the impact of the new public service management on the Australian public service /

MacDermott, Kathy,

Whatever happened to frank and fearless? : the impact of the new public service management on the Australian public service / Kathy MacDermott. - 1 online resource (xvi, 159 pages) - [ANZSOG series] . - ANZSOG (Series) .

Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-150).

A failure of public administration? -- The regime of contestability -- Individual performance management and assessment and 'assumption cultures' -- Devolution -- Aligning the service: the impact of workplace relations -- To market, to market: outsourcing the public service -- Reforming the reforms?

"In this evidence-based and closely argued work, Kathy MacDermott plots the changes in the culture of the Australian Public Service that have led many contemporary commentators to lament the purported loss of traditional public service values of impartiality, intellectual rigour and, most importantly, the willingness of public servants at all levels to offer frank and fearless advice to their superiors and their ministers. MacDermott brings to her analysis an insider's sensibility and a thorough forensic analysis of the impact of some 20 years of relentless administrative 'reform' on the values and behaviour of the APS. Although this story has its beginnings in the Hawke-Keating eras, MacDermott convincingly argues that structural and cultural change compromising the integrity of the public service reached its apogee towards the end of the eleven years of the Howard government. This is a 'must read' for students of Australian political and administrative history. MacDermott offers cautionary observations that the new national government might do well to heed"--Provided by publisher

9781921313929 1921313927

22573/ctt2360g0 JSTOR


Civil service--Australia.
Public administration--Australia.
POLITICAL SCIENCE--Public Policy--General.
Civil service.
Politics and government
Public administration.


Australia--Politics and government.
Australia.


Electronic books.

JQ4047 / .M33 2008

351.94