The role of departmental secretaries: personal reflections on the breadth of responsibilities today

30 June 2009This book presents a portrait of the role of Commonwealth departmental secretaries and their work from the point of view of a former senior public servant. Although Andrew Podger was a participant at key moments in recent policy history, this is not merely a memoir: it is an analytic book which offers a number of lessons learned, to be heeded (or not) by the present and future generations of policy practitioners. Andrew has been, at times, an unflinching commentator on issues of bureaucratic performance, accountability and responsiveness to government. Andrew’s reflections are drawn from his own experiences within the inner circle of Australian policy-making.

Noticeboard

07 March 2012

In May 2011 the Federal Government announced that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) would commence operations from 1 July 2012 and that it would initially be responsible for determining the legal status of groups seeking charitable, public benevolent institution, and other not-for-profit (NFP) benefits on behalf of all Commonwealth agencies. 

01 March 2012


The Productivity Commission has been asked to report within 9 months on Regulatory Impact Analysis: Benchmarking. The study requires a benchmarking of the efficiency and quality of regulatory impact analysis processes used by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments, as well as those of the Council of Australian Governments.
20 December 2011

On 18 November 2011, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.