Australian perspectives: accountable and ethical decision making

Speaker:
Alan Barrett,
Principal Policy Officer, Western Australian Public Sector Commission

Abstract:
An innovative strategy has been developed in Western Australia (WA) to facilitate greater levels of awareness and understanding among CEOs and public servants about accountable and ethical decision making.

The Accountability Support Unit (ASU) in the new Public Sector Commission in Western Australia (previously operating under the auspices of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet) has developed a training program and implementation strategy to help public sector employees understand and meet accountability requirements and to build a higher standard of governance across the sector.

The training program provides participants with information about accountability requirements and engages participants in workshopping authentic scenarios that have been matched to integrity risks identified by the agency (or in high profile public cases) to better equip employees, managers and Chief Executive Officers to deal with the types of situations/issues that they are likely to encounter in their day-to-day work.

The program curriculum is aligned to categories of conduct promoted in Code of Conduct guidelines issued by the Commissioner for Public Sector Standards and provides an appropriate vehicle for agencies to use in launching and embedding revised codes of conduct and in addressing elements of the Resisting Misconduct Framework published by the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission.

Training has been provided to all Public Sector CEOs and Director Generals by the ASU and a version of the program has been developed and delivered to staff in Ministerial Offices. Support is being provided to agencies to further customise and deliver training to their employees. This second level of customisation has produced some innovative and unique approaches at the agency level and enhanced agency ownership of the program. The program has a high level of support, and feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive.

Alan Barrett, Principal Policy Officer, provides an overview of the program, discusses the experience and challenges associated with its implementation across the WA Public Sector and describes how these challenges have, and are, being met.