Shared services debacle indictment on Government

The Auditor-General’s damning report on the establishment of the Central Agencies Shared Services is a serious rebuke for the State Services Minister, says Labour’s State Services spokesperson, Maryan Street.

“The audit of Central Agencies Shared Services (CASS) not only found there was not enough clarity about what it was set up to achieve, but baseline data was inadequate, best practice was not followed and there were weaknesses in governance and management. It also found consultation was poor and skilled people were lost, all of which led to low morale.

“It is hard to imagine how much worse it could have been.

“These were three agencies which make up, by their own description, the ‘Corporate Centre’ of government: the Treasury, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the State Services Commission. These are some of our most critical parts of government and they have not got it right.

“Far from showing leadership to other public sector agencies on how to achieve gains in shared service delivery, CASS has shown other departments exactly how NOT to do things.

“State Services Minister Jonathan Coleman should take responsibility. Instead he’s hung Treasury out to dry. Why wasn’t he watching this more closely? Millions of dollars have been spent on this debacle when it was meant to demonstrate how millions could be saved.

“Shared services are not new; neither is incompetence. This audit has revealed a hopeless combination of the two. Jonathan Coleman should rethink the process and own up to his inadequacy here,” Maryan Street says.

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