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After a century of industrialisation and urbanisation, and a commensurate rise in state power, Australia is experiencing ‘a major reconceptualisation of the role of government’ (Nethercote 2003, p. 12). The need for Parliament to address such change had arisen as early as 1950, when Professor Wolfgang Friedmann called for ‘a re-consideration of the problem of parliamentary control’ over the increasingly pervasive activity and influence of governments (Friedmann 1950, p. 27). Ambitious initiatives to this end were introduced in the 1960s, with the past three decades witnessing the growth of a complex ‘web of parliamentary scrutiny’ of all aspects of governance, especially public administration (Cole 1980, p. 174). Today, Parliament’s capacity to scrutinise the performance of ministers and public servants outside the chamber is of a similar order to its legislative power. This is a welcome development, which provides opportunities for identifying ministerial neglect and bureaucratic maladministration. It is also important in reducing their incidence. As Walter Bagehot put it: ‘All checks are valuable, not in proportion to the vices which they discover, but in proportion to the vices which they prevent’ (Bagehot 1974, p. 42). The purpose of this chapter is to determine whether this web has been as effective as its designers intended in ensuring the accountability to Parliament of Australia’s main non-political institution of government, the Australian public service (APS) (the Commonwealth public service (CPS) 1901–73 when it received its present name).

Parliamentary Scrutiny of the Australian Public Service