The Public Administration Act 2004 requires the State Services Authority to establish and maintain a Register of Instruments and to make it accessible to the public at all times without charge. It must be kept in electronic form, and be available on the Internet.

This page and links is the Register of Instruments. It contains up-to-date versions of codes of conduct and standards issued by the Public Sector Standards Commissioner, Orders made by the Governor in Council, and regulations issued pursuant to the Act.

codes of conduct

The Public Administration Act 2004 defines the values and employment principles that must underpin the operations and culture of the Victorian public sector. These values have been developed by the Public Sector Standards Commissioner into three binding codes of conduct to reinforce the public sector values for different categories of public official:

• Directors' Code of Conduct & Guidance Notes (PDF 227KB)
• Code of Conduct for Victorian public sector employees (PDF 418KB)
• Code of Conduct for Victorian public sector employees of special bodies (PDF 418KB).

public sector standards

The Public Sector Standards Commissioner has issued binding Standards (PDF 612KB) on:

• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Fair and Reasonable Treatment
• Merit in Employment
• Reasonable Avenue of Redress.

orders

The Governor in Council may make Orders in relation to the following sections of the Public Administration Act 2004.

• Section 2 – Relating to when parts of the Act come into Operation
• Section 5 – Application of Public Entities definition
• Section 6 – Special Bodies
• Section 10 – Departments
• Section 11 – Administrative Offices
• Section 16 – Persons with functions of public service body Head
• Section 23 – Executive Employment
• Section 75 – Orders relating to the operation of Public Entities
• Section 81 – Provision of duties of a Public Entity - exceptions for Advisory Entities
• Section 92 – Power to make Public Entities subject to specified whole of government policies
• Section 96 – Documents required to be kept by Small Entities - exemptions
• Section 104 – Declared Authorities

A number of Orders have been issued by the Governor in Council since the introduction of the Public Administration Act 2004.

regulations

The Public Administration (Review of Actions) Regulations 2005 (PDF 53KB) have been issued.

Further information about governance and the structure of the Victorian public sector

Certain sections of the Public Administration Act 2004, combined with Governor in Council Orders affect the governance and structure of the Victorian public sector. The typical forms or organisation in the Victorian public sector are public service bodies (Departments, Administrative Offices and the State Services Authority) and public entities. In addition, the Public Administration Act 2004 creates a new classification of public sector organisation - special bodies, and provides for some public entities to be declared authorities.

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