An Analysis of the Enforcement of Duties Owed by Public Sector Officials

The purpose of this article is to assess the extent to which the duties applicable to public officials and directors of public sector entities have achieved their aim of strengthening public governance in Australia and bringing the applicable standards more closely in alignment with the standards prevailing in the corporate sector. We undertake an analysis of all cases in which a breach of a public sector duty was alleged, focusing on the duties owed by directors of government corporations and the duties owed by officials under public sector legislation. We found a very small number of cases in which a breach of the duties was alleged and only one case where a breach was made out. We conclude that the public governance duties do not significantly contribute to public sector governance.