December 1 - 31, 2025: Issue 649

Australian Government Appointments Framework Released alongside Briggs 'Report of the Review into Public Sector Board Appointments Processes; No Favourites'

A report into government appointments to boards has found that candidates or friends are too often picked for political purposes or past loyalties.

The Albanese government has sat on the review by Lynelle Briggs AO — dubbed an investigation into "jobs for mates" — since August 2023.

Ms Briggs states in her report, 'Report of the Review into Public Sector Board Appointments Processes - No Favourites' ;

'too often the practice in recent years has been to appoint friends of the Government to boards, either as a reward for past loyalty or to ensure alignment with government priorities and all too often these appointments have looked like forms of patronage and nepotism that should have no place in the modern Australian society. The public expects to see board appointees who are professionally qualified for the roles they are expected to perform and who are willing to work for the good of the country rather than for a particular political party.
I found that the current board appointment arrangements are not fit for purpose. They have let down the Australian people, undermined the integrity and effectiveness of the public sector and exposed Ministers to unnecessary risk. They do not provide Ministers with a disciplined and structured appointments process that ensures a broad, relevant, and diverse skill set for their boards. They do not provide Ministers with the support that they need to find the best candidates and make appointment decisions. They do not always provide the best people for the job.'
...
'I am proposing a series of careful and measured reforms to the processes by which board members are identified, selected, appointed, and supported in their roles. The idea is to systematise appointment processes in legislation so that there is a standard appointment process that is disciplined and rigorous in its application and which will provide the benchmark for ministerial appointment practice. The proposed appointments model will deliver better candidates, from a wider range of circumstances, for board positions.'
....
'I have proposed in this review a series of measured reforms with necessary flexibility that should help to restore public confidence in the governance of public entities, whilst maintaining ultimate ministerial responsibility for board appointment decisions.
The reforms start with an acknowledgement that Ministers need a generally applicable and standard appointments process that is applied in all portfolios in order to have access to a predictable and fairer recruitment system that builds in strength over time as its practice is embedded and built upon through talent pools, talent pipelines, diversity responsibilities, and other mechanisms.
They open up the board recruitment process through advertising virtually all positions, formalising ministerial and departmental roles in the process, collecting and publishing appointments data, and explaining how and why appointment decisions were made.
They engage the public service directly in independent ownership of, and accountability for, appointment processes and, in so doing, secure them as willing partners in achieving better appointment results for Ministers through good process.
They establish a centre of board expertise in the Public Service Commission, which is also responsible for assurance reporting.
They enforce operational standards and correct process in the Government Boards Services Act, with the stick of the National Anti-Corruption Commission and breaches of the Code of Conduct for Ministers.
I would like to think that these reforms will ensure that “only the best will do” will become the mantra for public sector board and other appointments and the integrity-safe reality for Ministers as they make these appointments.'

On December 2nd 2025 Public Service Minister, The Hon. Katy Gallagher, defended the delay in releasing the report and unveiled an overhaul of the appointments framework, which included a list of strengthened principles focused on merit and diversity but did not adopt key recommendations from the review, such as politicians and staff not being appointed to boards within six months of leaving government positions or 18 months if they were in ministerial jobs, or banning ministerial appointments in the six months before an election.

"There are people who leave work in this parliament who do have the right skills and would be an asset on government boards and committees," Ms Gallagher told the Senate estimates committee

"The ministerial code covers things like post-employment arrangements, including in areas where ministers have had direct responsibility, and that remains.

"But to say that somebody can't at five months and four weeks, three weeks, they can't be appointed, but at six months and one week they can, we don't agree with."

Ms Gallagher told Senate estimates that the release of the report was held up while work on the new framework was completed.

"We took the time to get this right," she said in a statement earlier in the day.

"We want to make the best appointments in the national interest with an emphasis on merit, diversity, accountability and this new framework delivers this."

The Australian Government Appointments Framework sets out principles and guidance to strengthen and support the merit-based selection and appointment of individuals to public offices across the Commonwealth.

The Framework requires that appointments to Commonwealth public offices be made by ministers in a manner consistent with the following principles:

Ministers must always seek to make the best possible appointments on the basis of merit, and in the interests of good government and delivering positive outcomes for the Australian community
Ministers are responsible for, and should be transparent about, appointments within their portfolio(s)
Appointments to public office and boards should reflect the breadth of the Australian community
Ministers should work with, and seek advice from, their departments when determining and implementing selection processes
Ministers have flexibility to implement selection processes suitable for sourcing the best candidates for appointments within their portfolio(s)
When appropriate and proportionate, ministers should use independent assessment panels to identify suitable candidates for appointments
Ministers should seek to continuously strengthen the performance of boards and public bodies

The Framework applies to all appointments to Commonwealth public offices, including secretaries, other agency heads, statutory office holders and board appointments, with limited exceptions.

The Framework is scheduled to take effect from 2nd February 2026, replacing and superseding the Australian Government Merit and Transparency Policy.

Mackellar MP Dr. Sophie Scamps said:

“The Government promised to release this report over 2 years ago and I have been relentlessly pushing for them to make good on their promise since then. While it is good to see that some of the recommendations of my own ‘Ending Jobs for Mates’ Bill have been adopted, it does not go nearly far enough.

“Governments handing out plum jobs to mates is corrosive to trust in our democracy.

“Unless these reforms are enshrined into law it’s unlikely this culture of cronyism will change. Australians deserve a political system that they can trust.''

Independent MP for Kooyong Dr Monique Ryan stated:

''Hiding a report on “jobs for mates” for 18 months, dumping it after the end of parliamentary year, then ignoring key recommendations hardly suggests a commitment to suggest transparency and integrity in government. Australians deserve better than what they get from the major parties.''

Albanese government shies away from tougher recommendations from ‘jobs for mates’ inquiry

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

An independent inquiry has strongly condemned the politicisation of appointments to government boards, declaring present processes have “let down the Australian people” and are not fit for purpose.

In her report, titled No Favourites and released Tuesday, former public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs has recommended a very detailed appointment process, with checks and balances, to restore integrity, which would put considerable limits on ministerial discretion.

But the government has rejected much of the constraint that Briggs’ plan would impose on ministers. Instead, Minister for the Public Service Katy Gallagher announced on Tuesday an “appointment framework” that is much looser and allows wider ministerial discretion than Briggs urges.

At a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Gallagher faced tough questioning from the opposition and crossbenchers over the government’s handling of, and response to, the report.

The Albanese government commissioned the Briggs report and received it in August 2023. It resisted sustained pressure from the Senate for its release, saying it was still working on it.

One key recommendation the government has rejected is that politicians and their staffers should not be appointed to government boards within six months of leaving government positions, or 18 months in ministers’ portfolio areas.

Gallagher said the government didn’t believe people should be excluded if they had the necessary skill set.

It will also not take up the recommendation that for six months before the last possible election date, no ministerial board appointments should be made that have not been progressed through the standard appointment process.

Briggs’ inquiry focused on some 200 governing and decision-making boards. Given it was appointed early in Labor’s term, much of the attention looked backward at the Coalition government.

“The extent of what are perceived as political appointments in recent years has contributed to a climate where public trust in government has been undermined,” the report says.

“Too often the practice in recent years has been to appoint friends of the Government to boards, either as a reward for past loyalty or to ensure alignment with government priorities and all too often these appointments have looked like forms of patronage and nepotism that should have no place in the modern Australian society,” Briggs says.

“I found that the current board appointment arrangements are not fit for purpose. They have let down the Australian people, undermined the integrity and effectiveness of the public sector and exposed Ministers to unnecessary risk,” she says.

“They do not provide Ministers with a disciplined and structured appointments process that ensures a broad, relevant, and diverse skill set for their boards. They do not provide Ministers with the support that they need to find the best candidates and make appointment decisions. They do not always provide the best people for the job.

"When the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand found themselves in similar circumstances, they acted to introduce or restore independence to appointment processes.”

Briggs’ detailed model for board appointments would advertise all board positions, and include a range of candidate search and talent management arrangements to improve board diversity and quality.

“The model still provides for Ministers to make direct appointments but puts transparent and clear process around those decisions.”

The report urges its recommended processes be enshrined in a new act of parliament but the government has not accepted this.

Gallagher said in estimates that the government had responded to 19 of the 30 recommendations with the framework, a further three were covered by guidance, three were subject to further consideration and five recommendations were not covered by the framework.

Among the principles set out in the government’s framework is that ministers “have flexibility to implement selection processes suitable for sourcing the best candidates for appointments within their portfolio(s)”.

Independent senator David Pocock said, “It is very disappointing that the Albanese Government has refused to accept the full suite of recommendations from the Briggs Review designed to stop the rampant jobs for mates culture that exists in federal politics.

"I’ve worked hard with all non-government senators to secure the release of the Briggs review. Now it’s clear why the Albanese government was hiding it for two years.”

Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.