The formal responsibilities of departmental secretaries are set out in the Public Service Act 1999 in Section 57:

The Public Service Act also requires agency heads to promote (not just uphold) the Australian Public Service (APS) Values and binds them to the Code of Conduct (ss 12, 14).

The Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 also identifies special responsibilities for what it terms ‘Chief Executives’ (Part 7). These include in particular (s. 44) that they must manage the affairs of the agency in a way that promotes the proper use (that is, efficient, effective and ethical use) of Commonwealth resources for which the chief executive is responsible.

These two acts, and the regulations and directions made under them, establish the generic framework within which all departmental secretaries operate: their responsibilities, their authority and their accountability. Employees of their departments must obey their lawful directions and secretaries may issue Chief Executive Instructions. They must present annual financial statements to the Auditor-General that give a true and fair view of the finances of the department and they must provide an annual report to their minister for presentation to the Parliament in line with the requirements of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit.

Each secretary also has specific responsibilities. The Administrative Arrangements Order issued from time to time by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister sets out for each ministry the areas of responsibility and the legislation to be administered ‘by the minister’. In the case of the Health portfolio, nearly 50 pieces of legislation were listed in 2001 (and more now). Most but not all are administered by the department and, in many cases, there are specific references to the powers and responsibilities of the secretary, or of the minister who in turn delegates them to the secretary.

In addition, in exercising their generic and specific responsibilities, secretaries are bound by administrative law and, in some cases, may hold specific authority under the legislation.

Legally, the responsibilities of secretaries relate to the operation and administration of the department and the programs the department manages. In practice, the responsibilities go much wider. Since the late-1980s, the term ‘portfolio secretary’ has come into common use. It does not appear in legislation. It reflects, however, the expectation that a secretary will help the minister to coordinate the activities of the multitude of agencies reporting to that minister (Table 1.3). This is particularly relevant in a portfolio with several ministers, one of whom has overarching responsibilities and sits in cabinet, and where there are quite a few agencies, big and small, in addition to the department. The ‘portfolio secretary’, for example, is responsible for helping the senior minister to prepare the ‘portfolio budget submission’ and will ensure preparation of the ‘portfolio budget paper’ for Parliament, and will probably be present throughout Senate Committee hearings on budget matters, including those relating to the agencies over which the secretary has no legal authority.

Aspects of this portfolio responsibility have more recently been formalised after the Howard Government’s response to the Uhrig Report on the governance of statutory authorities and statutory office-holders. This provides a role for secretaries in advising on appointments and on performance, while not constraining the statutory responsibilities of the authorities and office-holders involved. The Rudd Government has since strengthened the role of secretaries (and the Public Service Commissioner) further in providing advice to support merit-based selection of agency heads and statutory office-holders.

Secretaries also have a collective responsibility, partly reflected in the Management Advisory Committee (MAC) (Public Service Act, s. 64) to which all secretaries must belong. Significantly, the fact that the Prime Minister appoints secretaries (s. 58) makes it clear that, notwithstanding their formal accountability to their own ministers, they are to serve the government as a whole.

Introduction of performance-based pay for secretaries in 1999, although since dropped, provided an opportunity to summarise the different dimensions of the responsibilities of secretaries for the purpose of assessing their performance. The then Public Service Commissioner suggested five criteria—support for the minister, support for the government as a whole, management, leadership and promoting the APS Values—to which subsequently was added a sixth: implementation of government decisions. The APS Commission’s Senior Executive Service (SES) leadership capabilities also provide a useful insight into the skills required at the top of the Public Service to perform competently. These are summarised under the headings ‘shapes strategic thinking’, ‘communicates with influence’, ‘cultivates productive working relationships’, ‘achieves results’ and ‘exemplifies personal drive and integrity’.

These responsibilities are in fact very broad, so the first questions I address (in Chapter 2) are how much time secretaries spend on the range of responsibilities with which they have been charged and what personal styles different secretaries use in meeting their responsibilities.

The remainder of this monograph is structured around the following headings, which encompass the range of responsibilities and the main areas of personal activity from my own experience:

Chapter 11 addresses the development of and personal support for secretaries, and performance appraisal. Chapter 12 examines the role of the Public Service Commissioner, which differs in important ways from that of secretaries, with its own issues and challenges. Chapter 13 sets out some final comments and conclusions.