Australian Public Service Reform: Annual progress report 2025

Executive Summary

Three years since it began, the Government’s APS Reform Program has built on previous reform efforts and is now in its third and final phase ‘Continuous Improvement’. This final phase marks a critical juncture as the Program transitions from a defined and centrally managed program of initiatives to a mature, business-as-usual operating state embedded through the APS’s governance, behaviour and systems. Work completed across the service has laid the necessary foundations to strengthen the public service: to increase integrity, better partner with people and communities, build capability and position the APS as a model employer. These collective efforts ensure the APS is building the trust and agility needed for future-ready public service delivery.

At present 54 of 59 APS Reform Initiatives are either complete or in delivery, with agencies across the APS actively adopting and embedding changes. This maturation of the Program signals readiness of the service to take ownership of ongoing reform, as many of the original ambitions have matured into standard operations, or the core capabilities, frameworks and relationships have been established to drive continued progress across the system. This evolution of reform into a culture of continuous improvement and innovation is underpinned by the new APS Value of Stewardship, an individual and collective public service commitment to strengthening the service for the future.

*1 initiative is on hold (1.5%).

The completion of initiatives marks not a conclusion, but a shift in momentum from central delivery to distributed ownership, where the work is embedded, evolving and influencing the system it was designed to serve. At this point, the initiatives move from structured delivery into the hands of agencies who bring them to life within their own contexts. This is where transformation gathers momentum, as projects evolve into enduring practices that shape how the system thinks, works and serves into the future.

Over the past year, the focus has extended beyond supporting delivery to enabling this next phase, which is supporting agencies to embed change through clear guidance, shared learning and connecting expertise across the public service. This is strengthening the public service’s capacity to integrate, adapt and transform from within, turning program outcomes into lasting, system-wide impact. This positions the APS with the capacity to modernise, and with the agility to adopt emerging technologies and contemporary ways of working with trust, partnership and integrity at the core.

Alongside this work, the evaluation of the APS Reform Program has matured, with an evaluative paper to be published shortly. This publication will show the indicators that demonstrate emerging impacts of reform. It will include reporting on the APS Reform Program metrics, which demonstrates 33 out of 39 (84.6%) performance metrics are meeting their desired outcomes, providing evidence of progress and achieving measurable improvement. It also highlights an influence of reform efforts in delivering value as it matures into longer-term system change.