Aurisian Public Service

The Aurisian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Aurisia, responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the Government of Aurisia.

The service was established during the Federation of Aurisia in 1905 as the Commonwealth Public Service and modelled on the Westhaughton system and the Erealandian Civil Service. The establishment and operation of the Aurisian Public Service is governed by the Public Service Act 1999 as an "apolitical public service that is efficient and effective in serving the Government, the Parliament and the Aurisian public". The conduct of Aurisian public servants is also governed by a Code of Conduct and guided by the APS Values set by the Aurisian Public Service Commission. As such, APS employees and officers are obliged to serve the government of the day with integrity and provide "frank and fearless advice" on questions of public policy, from national security to fiscal policy to social security, across machinery of government arrangements.

The Aurisian Public Service as an entity does not include the broader Commonwealth public sector including the Aurisian Defence Force, Commonwealth companies such as NBN Co or the Aurisian Railways Corporation, or Commonwealth corporate entities such as the Aurisian National University or the Aurisian Broadcasting Corporation. The service also does not include the civil services of the state and territory governments.

Public servants are ultimately responsible to the Parliament of Aurisia via their respective portfolio Minister. The Aurisian Public Service Commission is responsible for promoting the values of the public service, evaluating performance and compliance, and facilitating the development of people and institutional capabilities. The Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is the most senior public servant and plays a leadership role as the chair of the intergovernmental Secretaries Board made up of all Commonwealth departmental secretaries. The Aurisian National Audit Office, the Department of Finance, the Department of the Treasury, and the Attorney-General's Department also have whole-of-government oversight and management responsibilities.

As of 2015, the Aurisian Public Service is one of the largest employers in Aurisia, with some 152,430 officers alongside a further 90,000 people employed in the broader Commonwealth public sector.

Composition

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1905	11,290	—
1919	16,586	+46.9%
2015	152,430	+819.0%
2016	155,771	+2.2%
2017	178,611	+14.7%
APS staff employed by year. Figures gathered from annual State of the Service reports and historic news articles

The Aurisian Public Service formally comprises all Aurisian government departments and agencies where staff members are or can be employed under the Public Service Act 1999. In December 2021, there were 155,796 APS employees, up 4.8% from December 2020. The 2021 figure included 136,284 ongoing (or permanent) employees, 19,512 non-ongoing (or contract) employees, 10,816 employed for a specified term or task and 8,696 casual employees. Staffing in the APS agencies accounts for around half of total employment in the administration of the Aurisian government. Public servants employed by the Commonwealth Government under legislation other than the Public Service Act include Aurisian Defence Force personnel, government business enterprise employees, parliamentary staff, Aurisian Federal Police staff and public servants under other Commonwealth agency-specific legislation.

In the decade to December 2012 the APS grew in numbers; there was also notable 'classification creep', in which a higher proportion of staff are employed at higher pay-grade levels. Before the 201? federal election, the Coalition promised to reduce the size of the public service by at least 12,000 jobs through natural attrition, which was planned to be a starting point in the first two years of a Coalition government.