Stewardship – Could that one word revolutionise the public service?

Stewardship — it was the word on everyone’s lips at The Mandarin’s trust and integrity conference last week.

Riffing on the suggestion by APSC head Gordon de Brouwer, a politician, an ethicist, and a leading mandarin discussed stewardship’s potential to restore trust in the service while remaining focused on the core business of service delivery.

While public servants remain more trusted than politicians, trust in the APS has declined over the past decade.

Revelations about departmental heads Mike Pezzullo and Kathryn Campbell have raised