Rachel Hunter outlines her time as Public Service Commissioner, including the development of the Public Service Charter and planning for the 21st century, as well as improvements in reporting.
Peter Henneken discusses the role of ministerial minders and their interactions with the public service in the 1990s. He segues into employment arrangements in the public service, including the impact of the contract system on advice. He discusses public service activism and the role that public servants can play in shaping the policy agenda.
Rachel Hunter discusses the notion of the Smart State, focusing on the application of the ideal to the public service and the impact on higher education and research.
Brian Head describes the hostility towards him when he joined the public service and his frustration when the suitability of his appointment was discussed in parliament and other public fora. He discusses the renewed scrutiny that accompanied his direct appointment to the Office of Public Service Commissioner in 1998.
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 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 describes being made the Public Service Commissioner in the new Beattie Government in 1998, and negotiating the employment of a number of CEOs under the changed (and perhaps weakened) definitions of merit based employment.
Rob Borbidge discusses the alleged 'hit list' of public servants and compares the Goss Government's approach to reconfiguring the public service after a change of government to his own approach.
