Acknowledgements omitted
For 125 years we have had a Federation built on trust.
Trust is at the heart of our national project.
We instinctively trust our mates.
And Australia’s history is full of justified suspicion of those in positions of authority.
Because for those of us in public service, we have to earn trust.
Interaction by interaction.
And by upholding standards even when it would be easier not to.
Each year I table the State of the Service report
There is one number that confirms to me that we do uphold our values.
It is the number of sanctions for breaches of the APS Code.
In 2025 it was 519.
They are real people facing a harsh reality for their actions.
But it shows an APS that is determined to uphold standards.
Because the ongoing fight against corruption is there throughout Australia’s history.
Ballarat
Take ourselves back to Ballarat in 1854.
A cold, dusty Victorian goldfield.
Gold miners travelled from thousands of kilometres away.
Believing in the promise of prosperity and adventure.
And indeed, some found gold.
Many more found hardships.
They had come from countries where the ‘fair go’ was far from reality.
And found that the Colony of Victoria was not much different.
Miners had to pay an imposing monthly mining licencing fee.
This often amounted to over a weeks’ pay of an average worker.
And the miners had no guarantee of finding gold.
If their licence was lost 100-foot underground, or ruined by waist-deep water, arrest was a real possibility.
Resentment was white hot in Ballarat.
The miners were required to pay fees to a system they believed was broken.
The fair go was gone.
The trust in the system was lost.
Peter Lalor and Eureka
Peter Lalor was one of those miners who had lost trust.
Peter had migrated to Victoria from Britain in 1852 to work on the construction of the Geelong to Melbourne Railway.
In 1854, he was in Ballarat.
Things were tense. Violent even.
Peter gathered beneath the Southern Cross with his fellow miners.
Together they swore to stand by each other in protest of corruption.
At Eureka, Lalor led the disenfranchised miners against a system that had lost its legitimacy.
Soon after, they built a rough stockade at Eureka – it was a hastily built fortress of timber, carts and slabs.
Then the colonial troops attacked.
At least 22 miners and five soldiers were killed.
The Eureka Stockade was brief.
It was violent.
And its place in our national consciousness endures because it asks:
How could so much trust be lost? And how do we get it back?
Trust and integrity today
In the 172 years that have passed, Australia has changed.
The 2025 Trust in Australian Public Services Report, showed overall trust in federal public services rose to 62 per cent, a four-percentage-point increase from 2024.
This is the highest ever level of trust in Australia’s public institutions.
So, what is driving that increase in trust?
One, wait times are shorter:
71% said the time taken to achieve an outcome was reasonable.
Two, digital platforms are simpler and more reliable:
73% said the website, apps or online platforms worked well.
Three, access to services is easier:
79% reported it was easy to engage with the service.
Four, service quality and staff helpfulness has improved:
75% of Australian Public Service staff were rated as helpful.
In other words, building trust has basic building blocks.
Be fast.
Make digital simple.
Make access easy.
Be helpful.
That is how you strengthen institutions.
Trust and integrity
It is an enduring source of pride that the Albanese Government legislated to establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
We didn’t wait.
We asked The First Parliamentary Counsel to get drafting straight away.
And within our first year in office we had legislated.
The NACC is just one part of the answer though.
Integrity cannot solely exist in or be driven by a single agency.
It must live in institutions.
In leaders.
And it lives in our conventions.
In this I want us to not just celebrate the new.
I am going to take a moment to celebrate the old.
Australia’s Constitution itself is our founding integrity document.
Part Three ensuring regular elections and term limits.
Section 83 ensuring that you cannot spend without parliamentary authority.
And that Ministers are to sit in Parliament.
This brings us to Ministerial accountability.
Ministers being accountable to the parliament for their decisions and the administration of their departments.
And the National Anti-Corruption Commission strengthened this too.
Ensuring mandatory reporting was an obligation on not just ministers, but on all Parliamentarians.
The moral of Eureka
The story of Eureka carries many lessons: trust is hard fought but easily lost.
Legitimacy cannot be demanded; it must be earned.
And Australians are good at speaking up when something is wrong.
Peter Lalor’s life after Eureka is worth remembering.
He did not just remain a figure of protest.
He entered the Victorian Legislative Assembly, eventually becoming Speaker.
From stockade to Parliament, Lalor showed the power of the democratic path.
For us, the task is not to build our own stockade.
It is to build trust, act with integrity and prevent corruption.
At Eureka, the miners asked whether the system could be trusted.
In 2026, Australians still ask that question.
Our answer must be in our conduct, our systems, and in the culture we foster.
Every decision and action by the public service is for the Australian people.
The discussions you have and the connections you make at this conference all contribute to this responsibility we share.
Thank you.