John Wanna examines the tortuous processes through which a charter of ‘values’ was introduced to the Australian Public Service Act in 1999. It first charts the political debates and context that shaped the introduction of these ‘APS values’, then evaluates the implementation of these values on a whole-of-government basis. He looks at how and why a specific charter of values was imposed on the APS, and how we can evaluate its effectiveness as well as its intended and unintended consequences. He also looks at why relatively soon after the introduction of these values there are already proposals for revision and change.