PRESS STATEMENT NO. 234
24 April 1974
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE POST OFFICE AND
APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE PUBLIC SERVICE
The Prime Minister announced today that the Commission of
Inquiry into the Australian Post Office had tendered its report
to His Excellency the Governor-General last Friday. The
Commission was appointed in February 1973 to report on what
Changes should be made in the organisation, administration and
operations of postal and telecommunications services.
Mr. Whitlam said the Government had accepted the Commission's
recommendation that the Post Office should be independent of the
control of the Public Service Board and that separate statutory
corporations should be established to administer the postal and
telecommunications services. Each corporation would have
responsibility for organisation, staff, pay and the conditions
of its employees. The Government had also accepted the
recommeicle. tion of the majority of the Royal Commissioners that
the new telecommunication corporation should incorporate the
Overseas Telecommunication Commission.
Mr. Whitlam said the recommendation for separation of the
Post Office from the Public Service Board confirmed the view
of the Auttralian Labor Party. Mr. Whitlam recalled his
statement in his 1972 policy speech: " Australia's largest
employer the Post Office will be severed from the control
of the Public Service Board."
Mr. Whitlam said the report had been sent to the Government
Printer and would be published as soon as possible. It was a
document of some 600 pages, in two volumes. Mr. Whitlam said
he wished to express to the Chairman of the Commission, Sir James
Vernon, and his fellow Commissioners, Mr. B. J. Callinan,
and Mr. J. J. Kennedy, the Government's
appreciation of their work in undertaking this wideranging and
important inquiry and carrying it through so expeditiously.
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The Prime Minister said that with the completion of the
Post Office Inquiry, the Government was now ready to proceed
with the proposal it had announced last December to establish
a Commission of Inquiry into the Australian Public Service.
Mr Whitlam said that the Public Service Commission of
Inquiry would be commissioned immediately after the elections.
He proposed that Dr H. C. Coombs should be Chairman of the
Commission. Dr Coombs had indicated his readiness to undertake
this task. Mr Whitlam said that there had not been a comprehensive
inquiry into the Australian Public Service since 1920. There
had been recent inquiries into the British Public Service by
the Fulton Committee in 1968 and the Canadian Public Service
by the Glassco Commission in 1962. Mr Whitlam said he had
been informed that a Commission of Inquiry would be welcomed
by all the Australian Public Service staff associations and
trade unions. He had also been informed by the Public Service
Board that it would welcome a Commission of Inquiry.
Mr Whitlam reiterated the view expressed in his Garran
Oration in November 1973 that the Australian Public Service
commanded universal respect for its professionalism and
impartiality. The Government's decision to establish this new
Commission of Inquiry was evidence of its desire to continue
the process of modernising the national public administration
already begun with the reallocation of administrative functions
and the variety of other initiatives taken by the Australian
Government during the past 17 months. Work was continuing on
the proposals for reorganisation of the Departments of Supply
and Customs and Excise.
CANBERRA. A. C. T.