Integrity, Ethics and the NSW Public Service

Avoidance has become embedded best practice in the bureaucracy psyche. The areas of concern the NSW Ombudsman had in relation to the bureaucracy’s actions were :-

1. the questionable ethics employed by the bureaucracy in their dealings with the public
2. misleading the public
3. acting in such a manner as to avoid accountability and transparency
4. delay in responding to community concerns and complaints
5. low standards of communication
6. policies not being correctly applied
7. policies not delivering their stated outcomes i.e. ineffective

Whilst tabling his Annual Report for 2008-2009 in parliament, Mr Barbour warned that questionable ethics and integrity lapses were common problems within the public sector. “Too many public servants think integrity is an old fashioned, optional concept,” Mr Barbour said. “Integrity is essential to good public administration and is something the public demands – it isn’t out of style and it certainly isn’t optional.”.

Housing NSW, for example, says that they will supply copies of the report/paper being developed with other peoples/organisations input whilst the information is being sought, and then reneges on their undertaking to supply when the report is written. Their standard excuse when explaining their refusal to supply the report/paper begins with “We know we said that we would, however just this one time due to exceptional circumstances …”. The standard excuse shows a lack of integrity and questionable ethics, the very things that the NSW Ombudsman wrote about in his report. The original excuse template was recorded on a floppy disc, with the current template on a USB memory stick, so that Housing NSW could meet Occupational Health and Safety requirements re Repetitive Strain Injuries.

The NSW Ombudsman’s castigation of the public service for a longstanding lack of integrity and utilisation of questionable ethics in their dealings with the public comes when Housing NSW, and the state housing bodies in other states, have entered into a period of massive change in their housing strategies. There is a thrust lead by the Federal government to move away from the current model of using government owned infrastructure to a model of utilising nongovernment owned infrastructure to meet the housing needs of the community.

It would be a shame if the NSW Public Service’s identified utilisation of questionable ethics, and integrity lapses, were to adversely impact on the supply of housing in NSW, both current and future.

Ross Smith
Waterloo

References:
www.governmentnews.com.au/2009/10/22/article/Restore-public-service-integrity-says-NSW-Ombudsman/FCPAMKDOAP

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