Government Services

Government Services provides policy and operational advice and support to the Premier in relation to constitutional, executive government and machinery of government matters.

Government Services also supports the administration of business before Executive Council, provides support services to Ministerial Offices and the Leader of the Opposition, and manages and coordinates the Anzac Centenary commemoration program.

Key achievements for 2017–18

• Led the development of the government’s response to the Finance and Administration Committee report on the Strategic Review of the Queensland Audit Office.
• In November 2017, prepared for the State General Election and an incoming government, providing whole-of-government caretaker advice and support, coordinating incoming government briefs, and ministerial office logistics, ICT, and accommodation support.
• Led the swearing-in of the new ministry following the State General Election.
• Completed a major IT network infrastructure upgrade for the ministerial and opposition networks and rollout of new IT hardware.
• Implemented a new electronic document and records management system specifically for Executive Council documents.
• Led the development of, and facilitated the introduction of, the Ministerial and Other Office Holder Staff and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018.
• Conducted community engagement and commenced works on the fourth and final stage of the Anzac Square restoration and enhancement project.
• Continued to lead the development of the new Anzac Legacy Gallery at the Queensland Museum, including reinstating the German First World War tank Mephisto.
• Allocated more than $1.7 million to 95 grantees to complete Anzac Centenary themed community projects including research publications, commemorative events, performances and the restoration of memorials and honour boards.

Our performance

The following service standards in DPC’s Service Delivery Statement were used by the department and the government to assess overall performance of the government support service area.

Notes:

1. This service standard informs on overall satisfaction of the service and is derived from an annual client survey. Clients are ministers, chiefs of staff, directors‑general and their departments’ cabinet legislation and liaison officers and senior policy officers. In 2017–18, DPC introduced a new satisfaction scalein its survey. This has resulted in the establishment of new baselines.
2. This service standard informs on the overall cost of Government Services as a percentage of the total departmental budget.

Future directions for 2018–19

• Complete a review of the Remuneration Procedures for part-time chairs and members of Queensland Government Bodies.
• Deliver the final year of the state’s Anzac Centenary program including a suite of events and activities to commemorate the Armistice Centenary and delivery of community grants that highlight the important role played by Queenslanders in the First World War.
• Complete the fourth and final stage of the Anzac Square restoration and enhancement project, open the new Anzac legacy gallery at the Queensland Museum following completion of curatorial and exhibition works, and continue to deliver events and engagement activities as part of Q ANZAC 100, culminating in a commemoration in June 2019, of the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
• Allocate $1.5 million in grant funding over three years to veterans’ groups and other organisations for the creation, upkeep and renovation of monuments, memorials and other public sites recognising veterans’ achievements and to provide support services to veterans.
• Coordinate, and implement policies to support the government’s commitment to veterans.

Case study

Anzac Legacy Gallery featuring Mephisto

As part of the Queensland Anzac Centenary commemorations, a permanent Anzac legacy gallery is being established at the Queensland Museum, South Bank under a joint initiative between the Queensland Government and the Anzac Centenary Public Fund. The Anzac-focused exhibition will explore the impact and legacy of the First World War on Queensland and the sacrifice made by our diggers.

As a commanding feature of the permanent gallery, the First World War German tank known as Mephisto was successfully returned to the Queensland Museum in February 2018.

The complex and delicate operation involved months of planning, two cranes and a temporary ‘railway’ to move the 33 tonne tank from The Workshops Rail Museum in Ipswich into place at the Queensland Museum. Impressively, the operation was executed in only one night.

Referred to as the world’s rarest tank, and as one of Queensland’s largest and most impressive pieces of First World War memorabilia, the imposing eight metre long A7V Sturmpanzerwagen will be a key feature of the Queensland Museum’s Anzac legacy gallery—an exhibition that will explore the impact and legacy of war on Queensland.

Australian troops, many of them Queenslanders, captured the massive German tank during the First World War in 1918. When the war ended, Mephisto was shipped to Australia where it was publicly displayed at the Queensland Museum for many decades.

In 2016, Mephisto left Queensland for the first time since 1919, and was loaned to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The tank returned to Queensland in June 2017 and was displayed at The Workshops Rail Museum in Ipswich while work commenced on its new home at the Queensland Museum.

The new Anzac legacy gallery is one of three large-scale legacy projects overseen by the Anzac Centenary Coordination Unit within DPC. The Anzac legacy gallery is delivered in partnership with Arts Queensland and the Queensland Museum, and with financial support from both the Queensland Government and the Anzac Centenary Public Fund.

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