House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-21 Daily Xml

Contents

Commissioner for Public Sector Employment

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:05): My question is to the Premier. Prior to 7 April this year, did the Premier have any discussion with the Minister for the Public Sector about a proposal that Ms Erma Ranieri be appointed the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for his question. To answer that question it is probably worth understanding the context in which this decision needs to be made about the future role of the Commissioner for Public Employment. During the election campaign we made a commitment to bring two parts of government together, which are essentially the Commissioner for Public Employment's role and the Public Sector Renewal Unit aspect of government. The public sector renewal element of government is headed up by Ms Erma Ranieri and she is doing a fine job in it, implementing the Public Sector Renewal Program.

The most obvious public feature of those has been the 90-day projects which have been incredibly important in driving renewal and culture change in the public sector, so she is doing a great job in that role. We are bringing together these two roles, and so we are going through a process at the moment of filling the Commissioner for Public Employment role. Obviously Ms Ranieri, because she is an incumbent in one—if you like—half of the two roles that we are bringing together, is a likely choice, but there is a range of due diligence and process that needs to occur before we are in a position to make that appointment. So I have raised the possibility of Ms Erma Ranieri being in that role, but there are certain processes before we can make a final decision about those matters.