On the Couch with Erma Ranieri

The South Australian Government is committed to ensuring that South Australia is a place where people and businesses thrive. The public sector must serve this vision through a strong culture of service excellence founded on a productive relationship with communities and businesses.

Every public sector leader and manager must play their part.

Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, has reissued the Code of Ethics for the South Australian Public Sector. The Code of Ethics is the Code of Conduct under the Public Sector Act 2009 and all public sector employees are bound by it. The Code is not a manual of rules and regulations. Instead, it is a principles-based approach to conduct and performance.

Erma was interviewed by Adam Graycar, Strategic Professor of Social and Policy Studies at Flinders University. Professor Graycar has extensive policy experience over 22 years, including as head of Cabinet Office in South Australia (2003-2007), and head of the Australian Institute of Criminology (1994-2003). His current work is on integrity and corruption prevention in Australia and internationally. His latest book Understanding and Preventing Corruption (with Tim Prenzler) was published in the UK and New York in October 2013. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Together, Erma and Professor Graycar discussed the challenges for leaders and managers in implementing a principles-based approach to ethical professionalism in times of significant change for the sector and the State more broadly.