Improved public administration and support for the Victorian public service — progress

Key initiatives¹

DPC has delivered the following key initiatives in 2023–24, making a significant contribution to the achievement of the ‘Improved public administration and support for the Victorian public service’ departmental objective.

Output: Executive government advice and services

Provided legal and policy advice to support the Premier, DPC’s ministers and the department

DPC’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) provides legal and legal policy advice in the areas of administrative law, constitutional law, corporate matters, First Peoples – State Relations legal matters, parliamentary committees, conventions and practices, subordinate legislation, electoral matters for state parliamentary elections, legislative and regulatory proposals, and legal policy matters pertaining to DPC more broadly, including on issues arising out of DPC's policy areas.

Key achievements in 2023–24 included:

• assisted in the establishment of the Board of Inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools
• advised on the drafting and passage of the Service Victoria Amendment Act 2023 and Statute Law Revision Act 2024, and supported DPC policy areas on the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024 and Aboriginal Land Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
• advised on corporate and employment law matters, including through the establishment of the Event Management Suppliers Panel to ensure the timely and efficient delivery of state events andfunctions
• advised DPC's Land Justice Unit on several native title claims, including a decision by the Federal Court to recognise Easter Maar's native title over parts of south-westernVictoria
• advised DPC and the Premier in relation to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria.

Provided clear, timely and practical guidance, expertise and support to our stakeholders in relation to Cabinet, Parliament, legislation, Executive Council and ministerial matters

In 2023–24 DPC provided expert guidance to support Cabinet, Parliament, Executive Council and ministerial correspondence matters. This included providing administrative support to the Cabinet, the Premier and DPC ministers, as well as other departments and the ministry where needed. DPC also provided high-quality administrative support for the Governor in relation to Executive Council matters.

Led and advised Victorian Government departments and agencies on best practice in advertising, research governance, strategic communications and media

As part of its strategic governance and central advisory role for all government advertising campaigns, in 2023–24 DPC ensured adherence to the Victorian Government Communication Guidelines and relevant legislation, supported the consistent development of campaign creative and media buying across government, and provided strategic advice on communicating with diverse and regional audiences.

Communications support was provided across the department and to DPC ministers on a number of priorities.

Key communications support was provided for:

• the Board of Inquiry into the historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools
• Victoria’s Housing Statement and its implementation
• the Victorian Mentally Healthy Workplaces Framework and toolkit
• the introduction of the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill into the Victorian Parliament
• business continuity for communications—whole-of-government principles and

Provided advice on protocol matters to the public service and delivered events of major state significance

DPC provided strategic advice and oversight of the protocol policies and functions of the Victorian Government and operational delivery of state-significant protocol events.

Key events and significant state services delivered in 2023–24 included:

• Victoria’s Australia Day public events as part of the National Australia Day Council program.
• the Parliamentary Apology to Victorians who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care
• significant state services for:
• The Honourable Tom Roper
• Ron Barassi AM
• Les Twentyman OAM
• Harold Mitchell AC
• Aunty Fay Carter OAM.
• supporting guests of government programs including visits by:
• His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam
• His Excellency the Honourable Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Her Excellency Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
• His Excellency Mr Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of The Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Her Excellency Mrs Vandara Siphandone.

Developed a whole-of-government communications strategy

DPC is building accessible communications capability and capacity across the VPS through an accessible communication project. A strategy focusing on leadership, education and governance has been developed and is being implemented in collaboration with other Victorian government departments.

Key initiatives in 2023–24 included:

• providing plain language training which was attended by 1,790 VPS staff
• an event series as part of Accessible Communications Month with 3,959 total registrations representing a 179 per cent increase in registrations from the 2023

Supported the Governor to carry out the role for the benefit of Victoria

Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC was sworn-in as the 30th Governor of Victoria at an inauguration ceremony at Parliament House on 9 August 2023. Since then, the Office of the Governor has supported the Governor across her constitutional, ceremonial, community and international duties.

Activities have included an expanded public tours program facilitating community access to Government House, and the introduction of the Understanding Victoria discussion series, examining key periods and themes in Victoria’s history. Two open days were held, including Australia Day, which saw more than 20,000 people visit Government House.

As part of her ceremonial duties, the Governor invested more than 580 Victorians across seven ceremonies with honours and awards in the Order of Australia.

Engagement with regional Victoria included official visits to the shires of Central Goldfields, Ararat, Moyne, Warrnambool, Murruninidi, Mildura and Swan Hill along with visits to flood-affected communities in Mitchell and Campaspe shires.

The Governor’s international duties included official visits to India, the United States and the United Kingdom, where the Governor was received by HM The King at Buckingham Palace. In March, as part of the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, the Governor welcomed the heads of government or state and foreign ministers from 11 countries to Government House.

Other official visitors received at Government House included the Minister of Education from the People’s Republic of China, the Governor of the Aichi Prefecture in Japan, the Presidents of Lithuania, Hungary and Malta, the Governors of the US States of Washington, Minnesota and Indiana, and HRH Princess Astrid of the Kingdom of Belgium.

Output: Public sector administration advice and support

Enhanced public sector integrity and governance capability

DPC’s Governance Branch unifies the department’s efforts to promote good governance and public administration. The branch fosters high-quality decision-making and policy-making, government integrity and accountability, and trust in public institutions.

Key achievements in 2023–24 included:

• supported the government to table a response to the Ombudsman’s December 2023 report, Alleged politicisation of the public sector: Investigation of a matter referred from the Legislative Council on 9 February 2022 — Part 2. This included working closely with the VPSC to include responses to recommendations directed to the Commission.
• supported the government to introduce the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024 to Parliament. The Bill will establish a Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Commission, a Parliamentary Ethics Committee and establish the existing Parliamentary Integrity Adviser in legislation. A broad range of stakeholders informed the reforms, including members of parliament, parliamentary committees, integrity bodies and other experts and public offices across law, workplace standards, human rights, equal opportunity and gender equality.
• supported the government to implement the updated Ministerial Code of Conduct released on 1 December 2023. The code strengthens the focus on conduct, integrity and probity for ministers and parliamentary secretaries and makes training on their obligations and regular transparent reporting mandatory. This includes reporting on private interests and conflicts of interest, accepted gifts, benefits and hospitality and the publication of ministerial diaries. Diary summaries for the period of
  1 to 31 December 2023 were published on
  2 February 2024, and the period of 1 January to 31 March 2024 were published on 16 May
• provided secretariat support to the independent Electoral Review Expert Panel established under the Electoral Act 2002. The panel reviewed the operation of the 2018 political donations regime amendments to the Electoral Act, other electoral process matters under the Electoral Act, and considered donations-related recommendations made in IBAC’s Special report on corruption risks associated with donations and lobbying and Operation Sandon special report. The Premier tabled the Report on Victoria’s laws on political finance and electronic assisted voting on
  5 March 2024 and the panel provided its supplementary report to the Premier on 23 February 2024.

Provided guidance and advice on public sector executive workforce policies

DPC’s Governance Branch provides guidance and advice to ensure consistent and transparent executive employment and remuneration practices across government.

Key achievements in 2023–24 include:

• leading whole-of-government consultation on, and development of, an updated Public Entity Executive Remuneration Policy
• supporting the Victorian Secretaries’ Board to make a submission to the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal’s 2024 Determination of Remuneration Bands for Executives Employed in Public Service Bodies
• re-establishing the whole-of-government Executive Employment Community of Practice to share information across departments and work through common and emerging issues relating to executive employment
• substantively reviewed and refreshed public-facing guidance materials on public sector executive employment policy and remuneration matters.

Output: Chief Parliamentary Counsel Services

Continued implementing a new work management system

The Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel (OCPC) has continued to engage in developing and implementing a new replacement work management and legislative database system. The new system will deliver efficiencies within the office and provide enhanced services to government, Parliament and industry and is expected to be fully operational in 2025.

Drafted legislation to implement policy initiatives

In 2023–24, the OCPC drafted a variety of legislation to implement major government policy initiatives and reforms across a wide range of law. OCPC drafted 50 government bills in the reporting period. These included the Youth Justice Bill 2024 and the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024. In addition, 132 statutory rules were made in the same period, including a suite of 4 statutory rules supporting the commencement of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022.

Throughout 2023–24, OCPC provided drafting services to parliament to facilitate the passage of Victorian Government legislation, the preparation of House amendments and the drafting and introduction of Private Members’ Bills. The demand for drafting services for House Amendments and Private Members’ Bills from opposition and independent members of parliament continued to grow during 2023–24.

OCPC has taken steps to build the office's drafting capacity to ensure that it can continue to meet expectations and demands into the future.

Progress towards the ‘Improved public administration and support for the Victorian public service’ objective

The objective indicator, associated data sets and descriptions outlined below provide information to reflect the contribution of the following outputs to DPC’s ‘Improved public administration and support for the Victorian public service’ departmental objective:

• Executive government advice and services
• Public sector administration advice and support
• Chief Parliamentary Counsel services
• State electoral roll and electoral events.

Objective indicator: Support for Cabinet, committee members and Executive Council is valued and informs decision making

Throughout 2023–24, DPC’s policy advice to the Premier, Cabinet and its committees, and Executive Council has supported decision making through augmenting departmental submissions, identifying risks and their management, and linking related work.

DPC’s progress towards this objective indicator is also demonstrated through the following data:

Objective indicator: Agency compliance with government advertising and communication guidelines

Throughout 2023–24, DPC’s policy advice to the Premier, Cabinet, portfolio ministers, and key governing boards and committees has continued to impact the government’s agenda in the medium to long term by supporting the efficient development of campaign creative and media buying across government and providing strategic advice on communicating with all Victorians, including diverse and regional audiences.

DPC’s progress towards this objective indicator is also demonstrated through the following data:

Objective indicator: Victoria’s electoral system is supported by an accurate and secure electoral roll, electoral services and conduct of fair and impartial elections

DPC’s progress towards this objective indicator is also demonstrated through the following data:

Objective indicator: Provision of high-quality legislative drafting and publication services

DPC’s progress towards this objective indicator is also demonstrated through the following data:

Objective indicator: Advice contributes to the achievement of government policies and priorities relating to public sector governance

Throughout 2023–24, DPC’s policy advice to the Premier, Cabinet, portfolio Ministers, and key governing boards and committees has continued to impact the government’s agenda in the medium to long term.

For further details on DPC’s performance in 2023–24, refer overleaf for the ‘Performance against output performance measures’ section of this annual report.

Notes

¹ Key initiatives of the VPSC (‘Public sector administration advice and support’ output) and the Victorian Electoral Commission are included in their respective annual reports.