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

coordination of action. To function effectively, it would be supported by the proposed ChiefMinister’s Department to ensure alignment with government priorities, and Cabinet business,and the work of the Legislative Assembly. In so doing, it would draw heavily on the work ofthe proposed performance analysis unit.With the greater emphasis on coordination and alignment of effort through the StrategicBoard, it may be unnecessary to preserve the Ministerial Advisory Committee of Cabinet onan ongoing basis. The Strategic Board would provide an appropriate forum for resolution ofsignificant issues in light of government priorities and the Cabinet agenda. The ChiefMinister would continue to convene ad hoc meetings of Ministers, Directors-General andMinisterial Chiefs of Staff to address particular issues, including setting governmentpriorities, from time to time.One ACTPS – The Preferred ModelThe Review’s preferred option – canvassed in more detail in Chapter 4 – would see thecreation of a deliberately powerful Chief Minister’s Department (still within the singleorganisational structure of the ACTPS and reporting to the Chief Executive and Head of theACTPS) and the following Directorates:• Community Services;• Education;• Health;• Justice;• Sustainable Development; and• Territory and Municipal Services.The proposed Chief Minister’s Department constitutes a deliberately large and powerfulcentre for the ACTPS, which will aid the coordination, coherence and consistency ofapproach and alignment of action across the ACTPS. It would comprise three Divisions andtwo Directorates:• the Culture and Communications Division, People and Performance Division (i.e. therenamed and refocused Governance Division), and Policy Division from the currentCMD;• the Finance Directorate (i.e. the current Department of Treasury plus Shared Services) –headed by an Associate Director-General reporting to the Treasurer; and• an Economic Development Directorate (i.e. the current Department of Land and PropertyServices, with the addition of Vocational Education and Training from the Department ofEducation and Training and the Tourism and Business and Industry Developmentelements of the current CMD) – the head of which would be titled Coordinator-General.The Review suggests the Coordinator-General’s immediate priorities should include:• delivery of the proposed ACT Government Office Building; and• further streamlining processes for unit title registration.Governing the City State: 81