Submission to the Review of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013

Open Submission to the Review of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 Document

Executive Summary

The Public Service Association (the Association) provides this submission to the Public Service Commission’s (PSC)
invitation to participate in the Independent review of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (Act) being
conducted on behalf of the parliament. As the key stakeholder for employees employed under the Act, we hold a
critical position in understanding the way that the Act’s implementation on 24 February 2014 altered the way that
the Public Sector now operates.

It has been the long-held view of the PSA that the GSE was not a success upon implementation and caused issues
across the sector that would not have occurred if the government had instead undertaken to amend the existing
legislation covering the structure and governance of the public sector previously, the Public Sector Employment
and Management Act 2002 (PSEM). The consequence of enacting a new instrument, and having to work from a
blank slate meant that although some areas of concern were addressed by the Act, many other issues developed
due to the way the Act was drafted.

Many of the issues with the Act over the years have required urgent repair via parliamentary amendment or by
updating the regulation and/or the rules that accompany the Act. The past five years have shown that the Act was
not a mature piece of legislation and was imposed to meet a political, rather than administrative, imperative. The
changes, as varied as they were, have not corrected this immaturity in the legislation.

The Association maintains our belief that the Public Sector would be best served by a repeal of the Act and
restoration of, following a review of the advantages the Act has produced, to allow for their incorporation into, a
revived PSEM framework. Noting this is a political decision however, we will address the rest of our remarks to
addressing the shortcomings within the Act and, where appropriate, offering solutions to those issues.
For this process, we have relied upon our extensive knowledge and experiences of dealing with the Act on a daily
basis, our consultation with our membership across the sector and previous submissions made to various groups
and committees on the Act and its operation.

Issues of particular note when reviewing the Act can be placed in the following heading:
• Recruitment practices and the capability framework;
• Mobility, appeals and promotional positions;
• Disciplinary processes;
• Performance development;
• Discrimination.

Submission to the Review of the Government Sector Employment 2 Act 2013
We also note that the past five years have corresponded to a period of time where the turnover of staff within
the Public Sector has probably been at its greatest ever. By design, job cuts and turnover has been greatest in
‘back office’ roles of government Agencies. The result has been a substantial loss within Human Resource and
Industrial Relations roles. Frontline managers dealing with these issues on a day to day basis have never had to do
so with such a low level of support.