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In his 2022 Let The Sunshine In report which painted a scathing picture of the culture within Qld's public sector, Professor Peter Coaldrake found the tone was set from the top. "The top means in a context of government the Premier or Prime Minister, it means Ministers, it means Directors-General,” he said. With the restoration of independence essential, it’s disappointing to see the dismissive tone to questions from non-government MPs during the annual budget estimates hearings. Is this how we drive the behaviours and outcomes Queenslanders deserve? #IndependentPublicService #BeatingHeartofGoodGovernment
Very perceptive comments Neil, and credible from someone who was on the inside and knows how challenging the culture can be. It has been particularly noticeable that, despite promising to implement the recommendtions of the Coaldrake report in full, the government appears to have quietly shelved any real work in this space. Prof Coaldrake’s good work seems to have been wasted, though that is not surprising. If you look at the language and responses Ministers routinely give in their daily pressers, it has become increasingly arrogant and dismissive. They don’t like the new media attention, which is simply created because of the litany of failures the government is overseeing. Good government is not that hard but ethical government seems now to be beyond his current government and the focus is on feel good announcements which offer no solutions to the growing list of challenges the State faces. That said, it will be interesting to see if voters bring out the baseball bats at the next election or continue to sleep walk through another election, just as the Victorians did in their state. #ethicalgovernment #independentpublicservice #qldgovernment
Professor Peter Coaldrake AO should have just said "Sorry". He was engaged by the Queensland government in the early 1990s to make the public sector more efficient. His response was to purge government of the faithful public servants who were pushing back against crime and corruption. There is little wonder why the government and the State have a cultural problem.
I thought Coaldrake's recommendations were being adopted in full......
What would be really transparent and open….publish the full briefing material that the DGs and Ministers have in front of them. Those “packs” contain the responses to every possible question that the department anticipated might have been / should have been asked in Estimates ….albeit carefully spun…they are significantly more transparent than the ridiculous questions and answers that now feature in estimates hearings. They are now simply a game for politicians to ask stupid questions or give non answers. Their purpose is intended to promote transparency and accountability around how the government has spent or intends to spend its budget and the achievement of portfolio objectives. They are currently a farce and have been for years ….but those briefing packs are the result of months of great work by public servants …they provide meaningful answers to the meaningful questions that should have been asked. Publish them automatically…I bet today even if you tried to get them under a RTI you wouldn’t get them ….go on journos go for broke and ask for them 🙂