Representing Australia: Allan Hawke reflects on his role as a head of mission in Wellington.

• Author: Hawke, Allan

Since completing my 'contract' as Secretary of Defence in October 2002, I have been ruminating about my new job, how to make best use of the term and where to direct my efforts. Like public service itself, much is written about what people do, but precious little on how they do it.

In Australia head of mission appointments are usually decided by the foreign and trade ministers, who seek the concurrence of the Prime Minister. In my case the Governor-General, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, appointed me to be High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary of Australia to New Zealand--a marvellous word that. I looked up the definition: invested with full power of independent action. Ill those circumstances, and with my background, I benefit from the services of a skilled deputy, who is experienced in the arcane world of diplomacy.

Max Moore-Wilton--the legendary, larger than life, former head of our Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet--warned me not to let the title, the 'Your Excellency' honorific, the private residence, the car with the flag flying, the personal staff and the other perks of office go to my head. I have always taken whatever job I was doing seriously--not myself. My wife's and daughter's ability to keep my feet on the ground provides the necessary safeguard against any possibility of hubris.

One of the advantages I can bring to the position arises from my close interaction with ministers at the most senior levels over a substantial period of time and a stint as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Paul Keating. Those who aspire to the most senior levels can learn an enormous amount about how the government's business is really done through experience in the private office which provides the link between the political and public service worlds.

I arrived in Wellington on 4 August last year and presented Prime Minister Howard's 'Letter of Introduction' to Prime Minister Clark the next afternoon, having taken careful note of his counsel that I was to be entrusted with 'the most important task of maintaining and developing the close and friendly ties which exist between our two countries'.

This procedure for Commonwealth nations differs from the usual 'presentation of credentials' by ambassadors to the Governor-General, although she was kind enough to include me in the 23 September 2003 ceremony at Government House. The Maori aspects of that welcome provide an unforgettable distinguishing feature for those fortunate enough to experience it. While New Zealand will consume the lion's share of my time, I also have non-resident accreditation to the Cook Islands and Nine and responsibility for the Pitcairn and Tokelau Islands.

Three objectives

After a few months here assessing the lie of the land, I concluded that there are three key objectives, underpinned by three supporting priorities.

Turning to the objectives, the High Commissioner has to:

* represent Australia at a whole-of government level;

* advocate Australia's national interests; and

* interpret the host nation's policies, priorities and programmes (and their likely impact to Australia (1)

I see the three supporting priorities as:

* providing high quality leadership of the mission, focussed on results, values and the creation of an achievement-oriented workplace culture;

* ensuring that responsive, timely and high standard policy advice, information, reporting and analysis is provided to Canberra--proactively, as well as to satisfy tasking requirements; and

* overseeing administrative, passport and consular activities--consistent with the ethical, efficient and effective stewardship of people and of financial and other resources.

Insufficient attention to the implementation of these three supporting priorities and their related governance issues is more likely to bring you unstuck than a misjudgment on the policy side! As a safeguard against this, we complete a monthly administrative procedures' check list which assists tracking and meeting the mission's financial and administrative requirements in a timely and effective manner. Each item is signed off by the action officer and counter-signed by the senior administrative officer and myself. A good SAO makes it much easier to sleep at night.

A post liaison visit in May 2001 provided a useful analysis of the mission's performance accompanied by thirteen recommendations, the implementation of which is helping us to lift our game. Recording those and other audit type recommendations and tracking progress with their resolution reinforces accountability. Each year we complete individual appraisal assessments and a post evaluation report, reviewing...