Recent Developments in the Work of the Australian Commonwealth Public Service Board
| Author | T. H. Kewlely |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1949.tb02706.x |
| Date | 01 December 1949 |
| Published date | 01 December 1949 |
Recent
Developments
in
the
Work
of
the
Australian Commonwealth Public Service
Board
By
T.
H.
KEWLEY
During the post-war years the Com-
monwealth Public Service Board has
become acutely aware
of
its responsibili-
ties for developing and modernising the
public service as an instrument of
government. The major steps which
it
has taken to that end, and also the
recently established machinery for staff
co-operation in administration,, are dis-
cussed later in this article. In what
immediately follows an account is given
of
the nature and functions of the Board,
andof the general structure and com-
position of the Commonwealth service.
The present nature and functions of
rhe Board have their origin in the
Public Service Act of 1922, in which the
Government recast its public service
policy largely in accordance with the,
recommendations
of
two Royal Commis-
sions-the McLachlan and the Federal
Economies Commissions-which had
reported upon the Commonwealth ser-
vice some
two
years earlier. The
Act
of
1922 abolished the office ofCommissioner
and vested his powers and duties, with
some added,
in
a Board of three Com-
missioners, the Chairman receiving a
higher salary than the other two members
but without additional powers. The
Commissioners are appointed by the
Governor-General for terms
of
five
years, and are removable only in special
conditions enumerated in .the
Act
They are eligible for re-appointment.
The Board is charged with duties which
in Britain are shared between the Civil
Service Commission and the Tressury.
Its duties are of three main kinds
:
(i) recruitment and general ccntrol
of
staff;
(ii) the securing of economy and the
promotion of efficiency in the manage-
ment and working of the depart-
ments; and
(iii)
exercising a quasi-judicial
authority as
a
board of appeal from
decisions
of
permanent Heads
re-
garding promotions, and from
Appeals
Boards in cases of dismissal.
The original Public Service
Act
of
1902 provided for the separation of
the
Commonwealth service into
four
divisions, known as the administrative,
professional, clerical and general divi-
sions. The McLachlan Commission,
which examined this classification
in
1918, recommended a numerical separa-
tion
“
to secure a more desirable
uniformity in classification, and
to
remove . . . an irritating distinction
of
‘
caste
’
based on nomenclature.”
That
recommendation was embodied in
the
Act of 1922 which established the present
classification
of
the service into four
divisions, named the First, Second,
Third and Fourth. The First Division
comprises “all Permanent Heads
of
Departments and such other ofiicers
as
the Governor-General determines.” The
Second Division includes
“
officers who,
under officers of the First Division, are
required to exercise executive or pro-
fessional functions in the more important
offices
of
the Service.” The composition
of the Third and Fourth Divisions is
not defined in the Act, allocations
to
these Divisions being left to the Board.
Generally speaking the Third Division
may be said to comprise administrative,
research and other professional officers,
and
clezical
officers (including certain
postmasters, postal clerks and telegraph
officers)
;
the Fourth, typists, machine
operators, office assistants, semi-skilled
manipulative officers, attendants,
mes-
sengers and the like. The First and
Second Divisions are limited to compara-
tively few officers. Out
of
a total
staff
of 120,991 on 30 June, 1948, there were
23 permanent heads in the
First
Divi-
sion and 354 officers in the Second
Division. The Third Division contains
slightly less than 25 per cent. of the total
staff, whilst about
75
per cent. are
in
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