Attitudes toward the Public Service: What people really think...

27 July 2011, 10:50am

From: http://www.cpsu.org.au/issues/news/24520.html

An anti-public service campaign, championed by conservative politicians, commentators and think-tanks is trying to persuade the Australian community that public servants are over-paid, under-worked and inefficient.

But a new report by the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) - Attitudes toward the public service - paints a different picture. Most citizens express confidence in public services and a preference for a well-funded public sector, a position at odds with those politicians and commentators who continually run down the service and advocate ‘axing’ jobs.

About the report:
The report presents a summary of attitudes toward the public service drawing on a range of sources and examining the perspectives of community members, Australian politicians and public servants.

The synthesis of attitudinal studies draws on surveys that have been conducted during the last twenty years by government agencies and researchers. CPD also examined the views of elected representatives by analysing contemporary media coverage and the Parliamentary record (Hansard) between 2006 and 2011.

Key findings:

Most Australians support government exercising an active role in society and the economy.
There is also strong community preference for public rather than private sector agencies delivering services including transport, policing, health and education.
Outsourcing and privatisation occur despite and contrary to community preference for public sector service delivery.
Australians are generally supportive of increased public service funding, even if that means paying higher taxes.
A majority of citizens express reservations about the current bipartisan determination to return the Australian budget to surplus as soon as possible. Surveys indicate that this is not widely supported if it comes at the expense of adequately funded public services.
Surveys indicate a higher level of confidence in public service agencies than major companies.
Agency surveys provide an inadequate assessment of client satisfaction.
mainstream media communicates primarily negative stereotypes of public servants.
Australian politicians reinforce these stereotypes, expressing distinctly less positive attitudes toward the public service than those of other community members: they are less likely than citizens to express satisfaction, confidence or willingness to fund and regularly invoke very negative stereotypes.
Studies of APS employees toward their workplaces and employers present contradictory impressions. Surveys administered by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) present a largely positive picture including high levels of employee satisfaction, motivation and sense of personal accomplishment. These surveys also indicate that many APS employees feel that their agencies discourage innovation and that their interactions with Ministers and other elected representatives are often difficult.

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