Promotion in the Commonwealth Public Service : its development and current practice compared with those of the New South Wales and Victorian public services
Date
1959
Authors
Subramaniam, Venkateswarier
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Abstract
Career services with recruitment at the
bottom, security of tenure and safeguards against
outside recruitment had been more or less established
in Victoria and New South Wales before the end of the
last century and the Commonwealth service took over
these traditions. Under the strong control of a
single Commissioner the efficiency of officers was
judged by examinations and the reports of inspectors
but procedural difficulties and central control
irritated permanent heads. At the same time public
service associations, grown strong after gaining access to the Arbitration Court were demanding promotion appeal rights. On the recommendation of McLachlan in his Royal Commission Report, promotion power was transferred to permanent heads in the new Public Service Act of 1924 while the new Board (which replaced the Commissioner) determined promotion appeals of officers through the enquiries of Inspectors. The new Board also devised a classification of narrow salary ranges. Under the new system departments like the P.M.G's formulated their promotion procedures. But the depression greatly reduced promotion opportunity and returned soldiers were flooding the Commonwealth service under statutory preferences. The associations agitated for an appeal committee system instead of inspectorial enquiry in promotion appeals.
During all these years Victoria had a single
Commissioner but Ministerial control of service economy reduced his powers in practice and promotion opportunity was very low. New South Wales started with a strong Board and the Allard Royal Commission recommendations in 1918 made it stronger. Both state services suffered as much as the Commonwealth service during the depression.
The second world war showed up the need for
a new type of official leader ship and strengthened the service associations who won some of their demands.
In the Commonwealth service, the Bailey Committee
recommended enquiry in to promotion appeals by appeal
committees. In New South Wales, a new open Court was
created to hear appeals, while in Victoria the
association succeeded in getting an independent
powerful Board with a service representative. in the current period of expansion all the
three services have quite high rates of promotion and
the professional officers are particularly favoured in
many ways. m the Commonwealth service each department
has its own variations in promotion procedure; the
authorities feel the need for a new concept of
efficiency but there is no unified movement or
direction. in all the services, employer- employee
relations are smooth. The history of Australian promotion practices
during all these years shows how greatly they were
affected by Australian non-traditional egalitarian
environs in the beginning and how much they were later
influenced by changing social and political conditions
such as the second world war, depression and the
increasing strength of trade unions. An analysis of
this history and current practices also illustrates
the limitations of "general" principles of public
administration when they are divorced from their social context and stage of evolution.
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Commonwealth Public Service, employment, promotion, New South Wales Public Service, Victorian Public Service, Public Service Act
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