Chapter 1 : Overview

Official Secretary's Review

Year in review

The Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General undertook a wide range of activities to ensure that the Governor-General was able to perform his constitutional, statutory, ceremonial and public duties.

These activities included support for a busy programme of official events and functions undertaken by the Governor-General and Mrs Jeffery across Australia and overseas, the continuation of an essential building and maintenance works programme to ensure that the two official heritage properties are maintained for future generations of Australians, and the administration of the Australian Honours and Awards System.

The Office also continued to meet the reporting and accountability requirements of a Commonwealth agency. It is an ongoing challenge for a small organisation such as ours to ensure that the resources provided can continue to be directed to core functions of supporting the Governor-General while at the same time ensuring that our reporting and accountability obligations are met in a timely manner.

The Office also faced challenges in the current tight employment market to attract and recruit suitable staff in certain areas and then retain them against competition from larger departments that are able to offer more competitive salary packages and a more diverse career path. While my staff enjoy the challenges and satisfaction of their work, it is often difficult to provide a career path in such a small agency, particularly at the executive level, and meet staff expectations.

Nonetheless, the Office staff met the outcome performance measures set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements. In particular, both the Governor-General and Mrs Jeffery were satisfied with the level of service and support provided to them to undertake their official duties, and the Council for the Order of Australia and Australian Bravery Decorations Council also expressed satisfaction with the level of secretariat support provided to them in their consideration of nominations. I am particularly grateful for the dedication and professionalism of the staff, many of whom work 'behind the scenes' to ensure that the Governor-General is able to fulfil his role and undertake a demanding schedule of commitments.

During this year, the Office conducted a review of the household, gardening and maintenance functions. This review (which staff and management agreed to in the certified agreement) made a number of recommendations, in particular suggesting a restructure of the Gardening Section. The restructure was carried out with full consultation with the staff concerned. This led to a reclassification of most staff and an improved structure that is now working well.

A separate review of the management of the official programme was also finalised and the results were being discussed with the staff concerned at the end of June 2007. I expect that the recommendations in this review will be finalised in the second half of 2007.

The Office is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the two official residences, Government House in Canberra and Admiralty House in Sydney. These are heritage properties that belong to all Australians. The second year of a ten-year strategic works programme for these properties was completed.

In addition, a new office building for the Honours and Awards Secretariat to replace unsuitable and outdated office accommodation was completed; it was opened by the Governor-General in March 2007. The new accommodation, which has now been brought up to a similar standard to that used by other public servants, means that the staff are better equipped to deal with the increasingly large number of nominations that must be processed for the regular meetings of the Council of the Order of Australia and the Australian Bravery Decorations council.

The core function of the Office is to enable the Governor-General to perform his constitutional, statutory, ceremonial and public duties. More detailed statistics on these various activities are contained later in this report, but it is worth noting that, during this year, more than 9000 guests attended official functions at Government and Admiralty Houses, and 8971 school students and their teachers visited the properties as part of their civics awareness programmes.

Other highlights in the Governor-General's programme included state visits by the presidents of the Republics of Korea, Finland and the Philippines, and an official visit by the Prince of Orange and Princess Màxima of the Netherlands.

During the year, the Governor-General (or the Administrator) presided over 26 meetings of the Federal Executive Council, which considered more than 630 items of business. During the same period, the Governor-General considered and gave assent to 205 pieces of legislation passed by the Commonwealth Parliament and received the credentials of 22 ambassadors and high commissioners to Australia.

In September 2006, the Governor-General and Mrs Jeffery undertook an official visit to Tonga to attend the state funeral of His Majesty King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. They also made official visits to Singapore and the Netherlands.

Their Excellencies are patrons of some 185 organisations, either in an individual role or as a joint patron. Much of the Governor-General's and Mrs Jeffery's work is associated with supporting these patronages through attending events and functions throughout Australia.

Outlook for 2007-08

The coming year will be an important time for the Office: during this period, we expect that a new Governor-General will be appointed and a number of long-serving staff will retire. A new certified agreement with staff is due to be negotiated in late 2007 and early 2008.

With this in mind, during 2006—07, the Office developed a new business plan for the next five years. This was undertaken in a consultative fashion with managers and team leaders so that major priorities for the overall direction of the Office could be identified. This business plan will be supported by other, more detailed, plans that will provide better direction and also enable individual staff members to better coordinate their own roles, contributing to an integrated programme, and giving each staff member pride of ownership in the important tasks they perform.

At a more detailed level, I expect that the new computerised Honours Business Support System will be finalised and will provide a more streamlined approach to the meticulous work required to provide secretariat support to the Council for the Order of Australia and the Australian Bravery Decorations Council. Finally, like many agencies, there will be a considerable focus in the coming year on implementing improved record-keeping procedures and practices to meet the challenges of changing technologies and accountability expectations.

These approaches at a time of expected change will ensure that the Office is better positioned to undertake our core function of supporting the Governor-General of the day to perform his or her constitutional, statutory, ceremonial and public duties.

Office Overview

The office of Governor-General was established by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia. Under the Constitution, the executive power of the Commonwealth is exercisable by the Governor-General as Her Majesty The Queen's representative in Australia, and extends to the execution and maintenance of the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth. Broadly, the Governor-General's duties fall into three categories—constitutional and statutory, ceremonial, and public.

The statutory office of Official Secretary to the Governor-General was established in December 1984 by amendment to the Governor-General Act 1974. Before that date, the Governor-General's Office was administered as part of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Under the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the Governor-General Act 1974 is administered by the Prime Minister. Support for the Governor-General in carrying out his duties is provided by staff employed by the Official Secretary under section 13 of the Governor-General Act 1974.

The role of the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General (the Office) is to assist the Governor-General in performing the constitutional, statutory, ceremonial and public duties associated with the appointment.

The Office's three branches report to the Official Secretary in his capacity as the Chief Executive Officer. An organisational chart is at Figure 1.

This report is structured in terms of the Office's outcome and outputs, in line with the accrual budgeting and reporting requirements for Australian Government agencies, and provides information required by the Government's guidelines for the preparation of annual reports. The Office's outcome and outputs are as follows.

Outcome	The Governor-General is enabled to perform the constitutional, statutory, ceremonial and public duties associated with the appointment.
Output 1.1	Support of the Governor-General
Output 1.2	Administration of the Australian Honours and Awards System

In reporting in an output framework, the cost of the Corporate Management Branch is allocated across both outputs in line with the proportional costs of supporting those outputs. The Corporate Management Branch provides corporate services, policy frameworks, governance advice, and financial, human resource and information technology support for the Office. The branch also manages the official properties, coordinates physical security and is responsible for the congratulatory messages process.

Figure 1 - Organisational structure at 30 June 2007

Official Secretary to the Governor-General Malcolm Hazell CVO
Deputy Official Secretary Brien Hallett
Executive Support Branch	Corporate Management Branch Gary Bullivant	Australian Honours and Awards Secretariat Sharon Prendergast
Senior Media and Communications Adviser Stephen Jiggins	Finance Anna Saravanan	Order of Australia Elizabeth Mitchell
Speech Writer Andree Stephens	Human Resources Karen Baker	Bravery, Meritorious, Defence and Long Service Awards Debbie Bowden
Senior Executive Officer Phillip Hart	Information Services Clement Tyhuis
Senior Aide Lorri Morris MVO	Property and Services Peyton Butler
Household Mark McConnell	Property Project Manager John Harrison
Provides direct support to the Governor-General through the management, planning and implementation of Their Excellencies' forward programme of national and international engagements, liaises with external organisations, provides policy advice, writes speeches and briefs, and replies to representations from the public. Manages Government House and Admiralty House household operations.	Provides governance advice and corporate services and support to the Office, for the efficient and effective conduct of its operations and to meet external requirements. Manages the two heritage official properties, physical security arrangements and congratulatory messages.	Receives and researches nominations for the conferral of honours and awards on Australians who distinguish themselves in service to the community and the nation, and supports the two honours advisory councils that make recommendations to the Governor-General.