Erik Finger outlines the PSMC review of the Premier's Department, and the resultant introduction of the policy division and rethinking of departmental responsibility.
Erik Finger discusses the change of government at the end of 1989, being one of the few chief executives to keep his position, and the expansion of his role into policy development and advice under Goss.
Erik Finger discusses Mike Ahern's failed attempt to introduce reforms such as a code of conduct for ministers, and the foundations this laid for the later Goss Government reforms.
Brian Head discusses the disappointments of his career, dwelling on the endings of things, particularly the decline of the Goss Government from 1995, and his move from the Office of the Public Service Commissioner in 2000.
Brian Head comments on his years in the public service, reflecting that he counts his own learning curve and the establishment of Premiers Conferences (which became COAG) as two of his greatest achievements. He discusses his work with leadership programs in the public service, particularly given the resistance to these initiatives. He remarks on the influence that working in a variety of postings in government has had on his own research into good governance since he left the public service in 2003.
Brian Head contrasts the Beattie Government with the Goss Government in terms of their impact on the public service. He states that while the Goss Government carried out large-scale, modernising reforms, the Beattie Government made much smaller scale, mainly political changes. He discusses his position as Public Service Commissioner in the Beattie Government, including the conflict with the Premier which eventually lead to his redeployment to the Environment Department in 2000.
Brian Head discusses the public service in the dying days of the Goss Government, and the disruption and restructuring wrought by the incoming Borbidge Government in 1996.
Brian Head discusses his work at the PSMC in the context of the public service's discontent with constant restructuring, and their disquiet with the failing Goss Government in late 1995. He comments that while the Goss Government was an excellent reformer, it was seen as less effective in day-to-day service delivery.
Brian Head describes his reluctant decision to leave the Cabinet Office to head up the Public Sector Management Commission in 1994 and the work of the commission, including strategic human relations and industrial relations.
Brian Head discusses the public service gulag, and what he calls the political brutality of the early Goss years. He describes the policy limbo which he faced at the Premier's Department, noting that the new government did not trust the existing public servants, and discusses the reshaping of the section under Kevin Rudd in 1991.
