Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

and cooperative relationships between officials and their Ministers’ Offices. There is equallygreat harm risked to both sides if those relationships are conducted without due professionaldistance and respect for the different, but ultimately complementary roles being played.Ministerial staff and officials serve the same Minister, but do so from their particular place inthe scheme of things.In its recently completed review, the Advisory Group on Reform of Australian GovernmentAdministration (AGRAGA) noted a series of organisational challenges for the AustralianAPS that apply equally to the ACTPS including: increasing expectations of government;increasing expectation of involvement of the citizenry in policy design and decision making;rapid technological change; contested markets for labour and for policy advice; andincreasing pressure to deliver in emerging areas in tight timeframes. 50In response, AGRAGA argued:The complexity of the challenges facing Australia means that the APS needs to be agile toadapt and stay ahead of the game. In policy development and service delivery the APS needsto work together as one organisation so that it is equipped to tackle multi-dimensional andinterrelated issues. 51The Welsh Assembly Government – facing challenges like the ACT Government ofenvironmental, social and economic sustainability in an environment of fiscal constraint – hasargued it:must be relentless in concentrating resources and energy on those actions which will make adifference. This means aligning public services round commonly agreed priorities to achievebetter outcomes for citizens and communities, and stopping activity which does not addpublic value. 52In one sense it is comforting to know that the challenges facing the ACT are not unique andthat there are other sources of advice and inspiration on which the ACTPS might draw inframing its response. That said, the ACT’s response – structural and otherwise – should bemoderated and adapted to suit the ACT’s unique features and particular needs. Any responseshould recognise the diseconomies of small scale, but embrace the opportunities created by asmall and agile public sector in providing the highest standards of public service to thecitizenry of Canberra. The ACTPS’s responses to these challenges must be based on whatworks for the ACT Government and the ACTPS, and not a simplistic argument along thelines of “state governments do it this way so that is the way we will do it”.Agile Government in the ACTThere is a developing narrative in reviews such as this and in academic writing supportingagility as the mechanism by which public services can respond to the challenges they face50 Advisory Group on Reform of Australian Government Administration (2010) Ahead of the Game Canberra, pp.10,11.51 Advisory Group on Reform of Australian Government Administration (2010) p.10.52 Welsh Assembly Government (2009) Better Outcomes for Tougher Times: The Next Phase of Public Service Improvement.Cardiff, p.3.Governing the City State: 59