Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service, Assistant Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Acknowledgements omitted
I begin by setting the backdrop for tonight's discussion.
Conflict. Turbulence. Disruption.
That's what you see on any screen you look at right now.
Be it the war with no end date in the Middle East.
Or the change in our national discourse flowing from social media.
Online platforms where people yell at each other in ways they never would on the street, or in the boardroom.
At the same time, we are seeing our economy change.
Dramatic expansion in computing power with the rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence.
A need for more sovereign capability from our energy networks to our manufacturing industries.
An ageing population that will see the tripling of the number of Australians over the age of 85.
In 40 years time there will be 1.9 million people over the age of 85 - many of us in this room will be amongst them.
The question is not whether we like these circumstances.
The question is - do we choose the right responses to them?
You as directors are choosing your response every day.
And the Albanese Government has chosen our response too.
Our government has chosen to lift our ambition.
Lift our ambition for economic reform.
Lift our ambition for Australia's place in the world.
And lift our ambition to hand down a fairer deal to the next generation of Australians.
Democracy and directorship
I am here as Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and as Assistant Minister for the Public Service.
You are all here as leaders of businesses that, collectively, employ millions of Australians.
And before we talk government boards, I want to discuss our shared values.
The core Australian value of democracy is at the heart of what we do.
We believe that democratic processes are how we resolve our disagreements.
We all believe that decisions are better when we have a range of views expressed before the decision is made.
We believe in the wisdom of collective scrutiny and collective decision making.
That's a principle at the heart of Cabinet Government.
And it is a principle at the heart of a well run board.
Appointments matter
Government appointments go to the heart of trust in public administration.
We are a government that is interested in making the best decisions possible for the Australian people.
The best insights.
The best risk mitigation.
And the best outcomes for Australians in a volatile world.
And I can assure you that Government Ministers care deeply and think deeply about who they appoint.
History of governance development
Last year you celebrated 50 years of AICD's Company Directors Course.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Federation.
But the history of board governance in Australia goes back further than either of these milestones.
In the 1820s there was some demand for pooled equity in Australia leading to the creation of the first joint stock companies.
However, that demand exploded in the 1840s.
Reverend William Branwhite Clarke was one of the New South Wales colony's early geologists.
In 1841 the Reverend took himself to Hartley, near the Blue Mountains.
In his spare time he enjoyed collecting rocks and fossils.
Gold flakes had been found in Australia.
But Reverend Clarke's lust for fossils saw him discover the first embedded form of gold in some quarts slates.
The Reverend kept the discovery to himself for three long years, sticking to his religious duties.
Then in 1844 he mentioned it to Governor Gipps who reportedly said:
'Put it away Mr Clarke or we shall all have our throats cut'.
Soon, a gold rush was in full swing across Australia.
Not for the last time, New South Wales was dwarfed by Victoria.
The gold industry in Victoria accounted for more than a third of the world's gold production in the 1850s.
With money, came the need for structure.
And the boom in company directorship in Australia was on.
Thankfully, AICD has been uplifting the standard of company directorship for the last 50 years - without a single throat being cut in the process.
The Albanese Government is similarly invested in a streamlined uplifting of this standard.
Inconsistent and slow
Last term our Government identified that we needed to lift the standard of appointments processes.
We engaged former Australian Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs to review the system.
Unsurprisingly, the review found processes in place from the previous government were not fit for purpose.
Processes were inconsistent.
Some were too rushed.
Some were too slow.
Under the old system, there were no consistent rules or standards across portfolios.
Almost every portfolio had different processes.
Some of those differences were stark.
Levels of transparency and accountability were not where we wanted them to be.
There was limited visibility on how candidates were identified and how decisions were made.
There was a heavy reliance on direct ministerial appointments, without overarching structure.
A lack of consideration for proper appointment processes also meant a failure, often, to consider people from diverse backgrounds.
Meaning talent pools were often narrow, recycled, and unrepresentative of Australia.
Raising the standard
It was clear that Australia needed a different system.
So we set about creating the Australian Government Appointments Framework.
Here I just want to give a huge shoutout to Katy Gallagher who led this work.
She has fixed something that so many others had put in the "too hard basket".
The Framework delivers:
One, structured decision-making.
Two, broad and diverse candidate fields.
And three, sufficient support for Ministers to make the best possible appointments.
It also goes further than the old Merit and Transparency Policy.
That policy only covered approximately 200 full-time statutory positions.
The Briggs Review examined around 550 governing and decision-making boards.
And today, the Australian Government Appointments Framework applies to over 2,000 appointed positions across the Commonwealth.
Two thousand positions.
Including Secretaries, agency heads, and board appointments.
This is a significantly broader scope than previous approaches.
And therefore, it represents the first truly whole-of-government approach to appointments.
Responding with reform
I know that Commonwealth Departments need to lift their support of the appointments process.
The Australian Government Appointments Framework helps them do it.
We are moving to a consistent, principles-based approach across government.
It establishes clear, Commonwealth wide principles for merit-based, transparent and accountable appointments.
These principles work to improve integrity in a number of ways.
Supporting Ministers to make the best possible appointments in the national interest.
And balancing flexibility with strong standards.
The principles of the Framework work alongside existing statutory requirements.
Reinforcing that Ministers are responsible and accountable for appointments within their portfolios.
To Cabinet, the Parliament and the Australian people.
Building the governance arrangements of the future
The Framework is better suited to modern public offices, including boards with complex governance and capability requirements.
As you all well know - strong boards are built through capability, diversity and renewal.
This is reflected in the Framework.
Ministers are encouraged to balance continuity with renewal, recognising that long-term performance depends on both.
Appointments should reflect the breadth of the Australian community, including:
- Gender balance
- First Nations representation
- Cultural and linguistic diversity
- Regional, rural and remote perspectives
Diverse perspectives strengthen decision-making, innovation and outcomes.
The Framework supports a broader and more flexible approach to identifying candidates.
Value is placed not just on experience and technical skills, but also on perspective and lived experience.
Innovation comes from bringing fresh perspectives into our policy conversations as a government.
That means finding the best talent available.
Public advertising can play a role where appropriate.
Agency-maintained candidate registers can also be a way of making sure that key talent does not go overlooked.
And using suitability reports that present a range of strong candidates, rather than ranking or preselecting unless requested.
This widens opportunity and improves the quality of decisions.
Bringing the public service and business together
Business and the Australian public service can always improve the way they interact and learn from one another.
The Australian people hate seeing silos where there are common challenges.
That is the rationale between the Australian Public Service Business Roundtables, including the one I hosted in Perth just last week.
Bringing business and the APS to the table to figure out how to best work together - in the interests of Australia's future.
We can take that lesson further.
For example, Martin Parkinson, former Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet now sits on the board of Woolworths.
Or Peter Varghese AO who has gone from Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Property Trust Board of the North Queensland Airports Board of Directors and Chancellor of Queensland University
My final example is one of your AICD fellows - Lisa Paul.
Lisa started her public service career in housing in the ACT Government.
She went on to become the longest-serving Secretary of the Federal Department of Education.
Serving five Prime Ministers and nine Cabinet Ministers between 2004-2016.
Since leaving the public sector in 2016, Lisa has held many positions across the not-for-profit and private sectors including:
Director of the Future Battery Industry Cooperative Research Centre.
Director of listed higher education company Navitas.
Board member of listed company Programmed and unlisted company APM.
And chair of headspace.
The breadth of Lisa's contribution to building Australia's future is not confined to the public or private sector.
What you can do
I started my speech with some of the shared challenges that face Australian business and Australian governments.
Together the Australian people confront some of the most challenging strategic circumstances since the Second World War.
As we consider the next generation of directors for government boards, I will say this.
Not every director will find themselves on a government board.
But all directors have a role to play in the policy cycle.
Here, I am appealing to your patriotism.
Often that patriotism is expressed in attracting capital and creating good, secure Australian jobs.
But as national leaders there is so much more you already contribute to Australia.
- Your mentorship, of those on government boards and elsewhere, is essential to creating a stronger Australia.
- Your engagement with members of Parliament is essential to a well-functioning democracy.
- Your international insights can be essential to government decision making.
- Your willingness to work with government, to ensure Australia has the strong environment for investment and growth that has powered our economy for generations.
Conclusion
Finally, I have always believed that cooperation is how we get the big things done.
That's why so much of our government's agenda is about supporting the private sector to grow.
And more than support, we want to work together.
In partnership.
As we look to the risks in the global economy this could not be more important.
Thank you.
