<!--The Official Report of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia are covered by parliamentary privilege. Republication by others is not afforded the same protection and may result in exposure to legal liability if the material is defamatory. You may copy and make use of excerpts of proceedings where (1) you attribute the Parliament as the source, (2) you assume the risk of liability if the manner of your use is defamatory, (3) you do not use the material for the purpose of advertising, satire or ridicule, or to misrepresent members of Parliament, and (4) your use of the extracts is fair, accurate and not misleading. Copyright in the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates is held by the Attorney-General of South Australia.-->
<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="4.0" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
  <name>Legislative Council</name>
  <date date="2025-02-18T14:15:00+10:30" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>55</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>1</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>Legislative Council</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="7831" />
  <endPage num="7882" />
  <dateModified time="2025-02-19T15:47:13+10:30" />
  <proceeding continued="true">
    <name>Question Time</name>
    <subject uid="46d2a26c12a04fd583223476ef5dec19">
      <name>Public Sector Directives</name>
      <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000069">
        <heading>Public Sector Directives</heading>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="6706" referenceid="c8683bcbb226495ebf16e224a5e3db3c" uid="fa3c69e4b9394d8ba9253f840e8c2862" kind="question">
        <name>The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Leader of the Opposition</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-02-18T03:45:00+10:30">
            <name>Public Sector Directives</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <startTime time="2025-02-18T14:33:38+10:30" />
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000070">
          <timeStamp time="2025-02-18T14:33:38+10:30" />
          <by role="member" id="6706" referenceid="c8683bcbb226495ebf16e224a5e3db3c" uid="fa3c69e4b9394d8ba9253f840e8c2862">The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:33):</by>  I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector regarding public sector directives.</text>
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000071">Leave granted.</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="6706" referenceid="c8683bcbb226495ebf16e224a5e3db3c" uid="8518869d363945029b732e04f3e18465" kind="question" continued="true">
        <name>The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Leader of the Opposition</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000072">
          <by role="member" id="6706" referenceid="c8683bcbb226495ebf16e224a5e3db3c" uid="8518869d363945029b732e04f3e18465">The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI:</by>  The Premier has issued a series of public sector directives aimed at improving efficiency, accountability and service delivery. However, the 2024 State of the Sector report published by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment highlights concerns about inconsistent implementation, unclear accountability frameworks and resource constraints affecting the execution of these directives. My questions to the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector are:</text>
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000073">1.&amp;#x9;Has the minister read the 2024 State of the Sector report to avail himself of the information contained within that report?</text>
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000074">2.&amp;#x9;What specific actions has the minister taken to address the deficiencies identified in the 2024 State of the Sector report?</text>
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000075">3.&amp;#x9;Can the minister provide clear evidence that the Premier's directives are achieving measurable improvements for South Australians?</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" kind="answer">
        <name>The Hon. K.J. MAHER</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Aboriginal Affairs</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Attorney-General</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Special Minister of State</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <startTime time="2025-02-18T14:34:44+10:30" />
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000076">
          <timeStamp time="2025-02-18T14:34:44+10:30" />
          <by role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010">The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:34):</by>  I thank the honourable member for her question. I certainly have, and I have regular meetings with the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in South Australia to discuss matters that affect public sector employment in this state. Certainly, the public sector is a very, very significant employer in South Australia. I think figures from the middle of last year show the South Australian public sector represented something like 12½ per cent of total persons employed within South Australia.</text>
        <page num="7834" />
        <text id="20250218162c075d83844f1ba0000077">There are a range of ways that we try to make the public sector as effective and as efficient as possible. Directives provided by the Premier or the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment are part of those. They are expected to be abided by. I know that there are regular reminders that are sent out, and there are regular meetings that are held by the heads of agencies and departments to ensure that the service that is provided is done effectively and efficiently for South Australian taxpayers.</text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>