We’re very pleased to announce that Dr Julia Cornwell McKean has joined our board.

We took the opportunity to catch up with Julia this week and hear about her career and her expert insights into probity.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and the work you’ve done?

I’ve spent more than twenty years in roles servicing the Australian public, including twelve years in the APS. I loved my time in the APS and represented our country on a number of international committees over the years. Three years ago, I decided that I wanted to service the public in a different way and have since joined three boards and have provided advisory services across all levels of government, working on many important and exciting and varied projects, including as a Senior Facilitator and Adviser with Ethos CRS. My primary focus is good governance, risk management and probity in decision making, but I also have a soft spot for regulation, compliance and enforcement!

In my spare time I enjoy swimming, music, craft, cooking, politics and mentoring young women.

As a general term, what is probity?

Probity is a term that is most commonly used in government in relation to procurement. In the Commonwealth it is defined as: ‘evidence of ethical behaviour…complete and confirmed integrity, uprightness and honesty in a particular process.’

In my view, however, probity is applicable to so much more than procurement. Indeed, it goes to the heart of good government, good governance, defensible decision-making and sound risk-management practices.

What principles underpin probity? And is there a principle that stands out to you?

The ‘formal’ principles differ across the states and the Commonwealth though there are similarities. The Department of Finance suggests that probity should be helpful, inclusive, tailored and sensible in order to ensure genuine engagement with stakeholders and encourage innovation.

My favourite probity principle (yes, I know that’s a bit nerdy) comes from Victoria and is about ensuring capability. It is essential, in government, that officers have the right skills, training and support to do their jobs well, so that their seniors and, more importantly, the public have confidence in their work. All too often probity problems occur, because people have been put in roles for which they are not suited—or have just not been given access to the right training and support.

Why does the public service need probity?

Probity is important for all organisations. However, it is particularly important in the public service as it is the foundation for ensuring mutual respect and trust between government, industry and the general public. The public need to trust that government will spend money and make decisions that are fair, address risk and are based on evidence.

What are the first steps to helping your team/department understand and implement a probity plan?

In the first instance, it is critical that your team/department know what policies and rules (including the applicable Code of Conduct) apply in your organisation that directly relate to probity, such as:

• Conflict of interest
• Confidentiality requirements
• Gifts, benefits and hospitality
• Procurement policies

Of course, these documents are a bit bland so having a probity briefing delivered to your team can help to bring these policies to life as well as highlighting why they are critical and how things can go wrong.

For major or high-risk projects it is also useful to have a specific probity plan that lays out the rules from the beginning. Probity plans can be complemented with probity protocols for special events, such as advisory group meetings, market soundings or negotiations.

Can you share any war stories with us?

Audit office, Ombudsman and Anti-Corruption Commission reports across the country detail many extraordinary stories of often flagrant probity breaches.

In my experience, probity breaches I encounter most often relate to capability gaps or human error. Misdirected emails is the most common probity breach that comes up (yep, we’ve all done it!). In one case, an email was sent to someone with the exact same name as the intended recipient. Such extraordinary bad luck! I see this problem so often that I recommend that sensitive content be sent via password protected links, attachments (or similar), rather than in the body of an email.