Summarising my own allocation of time in different departments is not easy. I have no data on the time I spent at home on various activities and only limited records of time in the office or attending external meetings. It is also not always easy to allocate particular activities to one of the range of responsibilities listed in Chapter 1. Moreover, some activities are cyclical, such as the budget and Senate Committee hearings, requiring some way of averaging time allocation over the year.
The following is a very rough estimate of my allocation of time as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Regional Development in 1995, as Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services in 1997 and as Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care in 2000. On average, I would probably spend between 50 and 60 hours each working week in the office or elsewhere on departmental business and another 10 to 15 hours a week working from home. This pace was maintained for the 11 years I was a secretary or Public Service Commissioner, though a similar effort was also required when I was a deputy in the Department of Defence and a division head in the Department of Finance.
Table 2.2 Time allocation
|
Area of activity |
Housing and Regional Development 1995 (%) |
Health and Family Services 1997 (%) |
Health and Aged Care 2000 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
(a) Supporting the minister |
50 |
35 |
40 |
|
(b) Supporting the government as a whole |
<5 |
<5 |
5 |
|
(c) Working with the Parliament |
<<5 |
<5 |
<5 |
|
(d) Management of the department/agency |
15 |
30 |
25 |
|
(e) Management of the portfolio |
<5 |
5 |
10 |
|
(f) External relationships —with other Commonwealth agencies —with other governments —with non-governmental bodies |
5 10 <5 |
5 10 10 |
<5 10 5 |
|
(g) Contributing to APS capability |
<5 |
<<5 |
<<5 |
A number of activities could be allocated to several of these areas. A key rule in preparing this table is that I have allocated time involved in policy analysis or review to ‘supporting the minister’ where my work was on specific policy matters leading to advice to the minister; if it involved broader management of policy advising, including policy forums in the department, I have allocated it to ‘management of the department/agency’.
The Health department is a large organisation, in a large portfolio with extensive stakeholders and interest groups. Despite the huge policy agenda involved, it is not surprising that I spent more time on management and on external relationships there than I did when in the Department of Housing and Regional Development, which has a far smaller policy-oriented department. I had more time when in the Housing department to contribute personally to the policy agenda and to APS capability matters (this was the period when the Public Service Act was first being reviewed).
The increased time with the Parliament in 2000 reflected a period of intense scrutiny of the health portfolio and my decision to lead the departmental team personally during the relevant Senate Committee hearings.
I suspect my personal interest and capacity in policy contributed to the allocation of time to policy development throughout my time as secretary, and similarly I might have spent more time than some colleagues on external relationships, particularly beyond the confines of government (for example, with academics and international networks).