The integrity of the public service is one of the key drivers of public trust in government institutions. Recent lessons in public administration offer us a crucial opportunity for reflection, learning and action on integrity across the Australian Public Service (APS).

Integrity is a broad concept. At its heart it is concerned with individual and institutional trustworthiness, and demands high standards of ethical behaviour and respect for the law. The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) defines integrity as doing the right thing at the right time to deliver the best outcomes for Australia sought by the government of the day. In practice it means our behaviour matches the APS Values and we are accountable when it does not. At the systems level, integrity also refers to being ‘whole and undivided’, which means the APS needs to adopt a more strategic and coordinated approach to integrity across the service.

The APS has strong conduct and financial probity frameworks which need to be understood and enforced. Compliance processes are important, and leaders need to adopt a positive attitude to internal assurance and external oversight. But this alone is not enough. Being overly focused on formal processes and rules risks overlooking the informal leadership-based efforts and communication that have an important impact on the ethical culture of organisations.

There are a number of different Commonwealth integrity and oversight bodies which would benefit from thinking and acting more like a system. To enable strategic discussions on risk and learning, actions need to be coordinated and integrity roles and responsibilities clarified across the Service. All the players need to be connected and work together to better support a pro integrity culture. There is cross-sectoral knowledge, insight and experience within integrity policy and oversight agencies. This knowledge could forge a greater strategic approach to integrity and system-wide learning across the APS.