Secretaries Board

Functions

Section 64 of the Public Service Act 1999 establishes the Secretaries Board. Its functions are:

  • to take responsibility for the stewardship of the APS and for developing and implementing strategies to improve the APS
  • to identify strategic priorities for the APS and consider issues that affect the APS
  • to set an annual work program
  • to direct subcommittees to develop strategies to address APS-wide issues and make recommendations to the Secretaries Board
  • to draw together advice from senior leaders in government, business and the community
  • to work collaboratively and model leadership behaviours.

Members of the Secretaries Board keep their autonomy and statutory responsibilities as the heads of their respective departments.

Membership

The Secretaries Board is chaired by the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Its membership currently comprises all Departmental Secretaries, the Australian Public Service Commissioner and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Indigenous Australians Agency.

Meetings

The Secretaries Board meets monthly.

Communiques

The Secretaries Board is committed to modelling transparency with regard to communicating its priorities and decisions.

Communiques were established from the October 2022 meeting.

2025

2024

2023

2022

Terms of reference

The Secretaries Board Terms of Reference were updated and officially endorsed at the 14 August 2024 meeting.

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Resources

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Secretaries Board

Secretaries Board communique: 19 March 2025

Secretaries Board

Secretaries Board communique: 19 February 2025