Ethics, behaviour and culture

Our mutual responsibility

Public sector employers and employees have a mutual responsibility to work together to:

• create pride in public sector workplaces
• deliver responsive public services
• earn the community’s trust in the public sector
• support the government of the day in serving Victorians.

In helping the public sector to achieve this the VPSC’s role is to:

• advocate for an apolitical and professional public sector
• issue and apply codes of conduct and standards
• monitor and report to public sector body Heads on compliance with the public sector values, codes of conduct and public sector employment principles and standards.

All of the above helps create a public sector workforce that acts with professionalism and integrity and applies the public sector values when interacting with Government, the community, suppliers and employees.

• Public sector values

  The Public Administration Act 2004 establishes values to guide conduct and performance in the Victorian Public Sector.

• Codes of conduct

  The Victorian Public Sector Commission issues codes of conduct to reinforce the public sector values.

• Employment principles and standards

  The principles underpin employment processes within the Victorian public sector. The standards guide the development of employment processes.

• Conflict of interest

  The management of risk associated with conflict of interest is fundamental to ensuring high levels of integrity and the public's trust in the Victorian public sector.

• Gifts, benefits and hospitality

  As public officials, how we respond to offers of gifts, benefits and hospitality is critical to earning and sustaining the trust of those we serve.

• Informing and advising ministers in the Victorian Public Service (VPS)

  How to advise ministers if you're a VPS secretary, executive or officer

• Grievances and complaints

  VPSC monitors trends in the issues that individuals raise, and may conduct research or develop guidance material to help remedy particular service-wide issues such as workplace bullying.

• Public sector integrity framework

  A framework to show how we can and why we should act with integrity in the Victorian public sector.

• Model integrity performance goal

  These model integrity performance goals, measures and discussion prompts are for public sector executives to use in their performance development plan (PDP).