In Australia, the terms 'machinery of government changes' and 'administrative re-arrangements' are interchangeable and are used to refer to the changes to the structure of government and the allocation of government functions between departments and ministers. Machinery of government changes may occur at any time, however the most significant changes generally occur immediately following an election. There is usually very little consultation or discussion prior to machinery of government changes in Australia, especially those following elections. The
Commonwealth Government and some state and territory governments use
Administrative Arrangements Orders (also called AAOs) as legal instruments as a primary method to make machinery of government changes.
Australian Government Administrative Arrangements Orders At the Commonwealth Government level, Administrative Arrangements Orders (AAOs) are made by the
Governor-General on the advice of the
Prime Minister formally allocating executive responsibility among ministers. AAOs establish
Departments of State under the
Constitution, including the principal matters and legislation dealt with by each department and its minister(s). The AAO is generally only updated when functions move between departments, ordering machinery of government changes. Only one AAO remains active at any one time; when a new AAO is made, all previous AAOs are revoked. Administrative Arrangement Orders are generally published in the
Commonwealth Gazette. Administrative Arrangements Orders are seen by some academics as a central platform of good government management as the orders set the basic structure of cabinet, ministerial responsibilities, portfolios, and departments.
Implementation costs When an Administrative Arrangements Order orders departments to be split, cut, or combined, the costs involved in public service machinery of government may include: • renaming departments, redesigning websites, and changing signs; • transferring staff, furniture, equipment, leases, and files between departments; Total costs associated with issuing new Administrative Arrangements Orders are unknown, as the costs involved with machinery of government changes are not collated or reported, but in November 2013, the Secretary of the
Department of Immigration and Border Protection told a Senate estimates hearing that the cost of the department's name change was cheap at 'only' an estimated
$195,000.
State and territory government machinery of government mechanisms Australian Capital Territory According to
KPMG, in the
Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the
Chief Minister of the ACT is given full power to allocate executive power to ministers and to establish government 'administrative units'. The Act gives the
Governor of New South Wales the power to create, rename or abolish any NSW Government department through the issue of an executive order, acting on the advice of the elected government. On the Premier's advice, the
Governor of Queensland sets out the responsibilities of ministers and their portfolios in AAOs. Machinery of government changes made in March 2009 were also significant, collapsing 23 stand-alone government departments into 13. The orders cover which Minister is responsible for the administration of legislation.
Victoria In
Victoria (Vic), government structure is set by an Order in Council made under section 10 of the
Public Administration Act 2004. The Act gives the
Governor of Victoria the power to create departments and allocate functions. ==See also==