The politicization of the Victorian public service is under investigation

The politicization of Victoria’s public service should be the subject of an investigation by former Commonwealth and New Wales ombudsman Professor John McMillan.

Victoria Ombudsman Deborah Glass released issues paper seeks material to assist in the investigation that will investigate allegations of the emergence of a trend of appointing people with political affiliation to senior positions in Victoria’s public services, and the effect it has.

“In February this year, the Victoria Legislative Council passed a petition requiring the ombudsman to investigate a number of issues, including what was described as ‘politicization of the civil service,'” Ms. Glass said.

“I urge anyone interested to read the ‘Problems’ article and contact us if they think they may have useful information.”

The investigation will consider:

• Inconsistency of appointment of heads
• Examples of people in political positions being appointed to political positions when the civil service suffers negatively or benefits
• Examples of detrimental or beneficial effects on government as a result of the appointment of people with political affiliation to management positions
• The need to reform the method of appointing officials by the state government

Ms. Glass confirmed that she had appointed Professor Macmillan to lead the investigation.

The investigation is the second part of a two-part investigation, in response to a government request that the ombudsman consider a number of issues, including allegations of branch accumulation and allegations of “significant shifts in the number of political operatives installed in senior bureaucracies. positions

The first part of the investigation will focus on issues related to the red-shirt scandal and Operation Watts, which is investigating allegations that Victoria’s government officials were involved in corruption by directing taxpayer-funded ministries and office workers to election officials. party-political performance.

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