The Recruitment of University Graduates to the Commonwealth Public Service
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1954.tb01310.x |
| Date | 01 June 1954 |
| Published date | 01 June 1954 |
| Author | Solomon Encel |
The Recruiinzent
of
University Graduates
to
the Conzmonwealth Public Service
BY
SOLOMON
ENCEL
Mr.
Encel's
essay
won
the
Sir
Gwrge
Murray
Competiiion held
by
the
South Australian Group.
Mr.
Encel
is
Lecturer
in
Political Science
in the University
of
Melbourne
and
(I
member
of
the
Victoria Group.
HE
legislation which established the permanent public services of the
T
States and the Commonwealth
in
the period close to the turn of the
century was framed in the dominant spirit of Australian egalitarianism.
It
rejected the social distinctions built into the strongly differentiated recruitment
system of the British civil service, while simultaneously ignoring the latter's
basic assumption of broad intellectual training as the essential elcmcnt in the
make-up of an administrator. Entry into the Commonwealth service, as laid
down in the Act drafted by Alfred Deakin, the
first
Commonwealth Attorney-
General, in
1902,
depended
on
an elementary level of education, with
university degrees recogniscd only as certificates of professional competence
required by the engineers, architects, lawyers, chemists and doctors employed
as public officials. The Commonwealth Public Service Act embodied
principles already found in the legislation of New South Wales, Victoria,
and Queensland,
so
that it may be considered representative
of
the general
tenor of Australian thinking on this subject. During the
50
years that have
passed since the setting
up
of the Commonwealth service, many changes
have taken place in Australian socicty and in the scope of Federal Govern-
ment activities, which have been reflected in the greatly changed character
of the Service. Despite this, the basic principles
of
the
Act remain practically
unchanged, so that the Service now presents the spectacle of a shotgun wedding
between strictly egalitarian theory and strongly differential practice.
How this situation has developed may
now
be reviewed.
In
1925,
the Commonwealth took its first tentative step in the direction
of encouraging higher education among its public servants. The Public
Service Board, set up under the new Act of
1922
and charged under Section
17
with the duty of maintaining a continuous check on the efficiency of
the Service, introduced
a
scheme of
"
free places "-i.e., free part-time
university training for selected officers. The Board's second annual report
(1925)
stated
:
"
In pursuance
of
its endeavours to establish and maintain an
efficient Public Service, consideration has been given by the Board during the
past year to
a
general policy of co-operation with universities and other
educational agencies, which has been set forth in the following terms
:
(1)
Close co-operation with Australian Universities in the recruit-
ment and training of public officers
. . .
(3)
The employment in specialiscd and higher profcssional and
administrative positions of officers who have graduated at Australian and
other universities
of
the British Empire.
The
"
Leaven
"
of
University Training
21
7
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