Port Moresby, 1 July 1968
Confidential
Administrative arrangements—Assistant Administrators1
The purposes of this letter are (a) to recommend formally to the Minister that the Administrative Arrangements Ordinance 1961 be amended by deleting Sub-section (b) of Section 102 and (b) to submit up-to-date duty statements for the Assistant Administrators.
The amendment to the Administrative Arrangements Ordinance is consistent with the conclusions and recommendations of the Public Service Commissioner and myself contained in the review of the top structure of the Administration …
The recommendation for amendment is based on:
(a) What I believe to be considerations of sound administration …
(b) The need for some adjustment to the developing constitutional situation. I refer to this in my letter to the Secretary, LH.369 of 23rd June 1967.3 In that letter I said‘… 4 the role of Assistant Administrators needs to be seen against a background of gradual evolution of the Administrator and his office and the Administrator’s Department towards, in the long term, a Prime Minister’s Office or Department … The other new elements of the situation in 1968 will be the presence of Ministers and Assistant Ministers, with the former having equal status to Departmental Heads. This will inevitably affect the supervisory and authorising role of the Assistant Administrators. Thus we should perhaps now aim at using them in the role of senior advisers to the Administrator who could, in addition, while still being called Assistant Administrators, chair important inter-departmental committees, be members of the House, and responsible for the presentation of major Administration policy in it, and also be members of other important committees and, in addition, have delegations from the Administrator to take certain executive actions required by Territory Ordinances, such as approval of mining leases, etc.’
I emphasize that I do not recommend that the office of the Assistant Administrator now become an advisory one. Holding formal delegation and formal instructions from the Administrator, the Assistant Administrators will have authority where required over the Ministerial Members and Assistant Ministerial Members, whose ‘administrative functions … would be derived from the Administrator’ (Minister’s Second Reading Speech, 2nd May 1968, on the amendments to the Papua and New Guinea Act). This is a different situation to the present one in which the Assistant Administrators’ authority derives from a Territory Ordinance (the Administrative Arrangements Ordinance Section 10(b), referred to above).
The necessity for this kind of arrangement is made clear by reference to the House of Assembly. So far as the House of Assembly is concerned, it is abundantly clear that the Assistant Administrators, and in particular the Leader of the Official Members, must have a degree of oversight over both other Official Members and, as well, other Ministerial and Assistant Ministerial members. Any other arrangement would be inconceivable. The co-ordination of the work of those representing the Administration, whether as Official Members or Ministerial or Assistant Ministerial Members, is essential. There is no-one else to whom the Administrator could turn for such a task other than the Senior Official Member and the Assistant Administrator.
My intention, subject to the Minister’s approval, is to issue a formal instruction specifying the duties of Assistant Administrators as follows:
Assistant Administrator (Economic Affairs)
Leader of the Administration in the House of Assembly and responsible for policy questions relating to the Departments of the Administrator and of Forests in the House.
Senior Official Member of the A.E.C.
Senior Official Member of the I.D.C.C.
Chairman, Land Development Board (an I.D.C.C. Committee).
Chairman, Special l.D.C.C. Committee on Bougainville development.
Supervision and co-ordination of Land Resettlement Schemes.
Initiation, supervision and co-ordination of major development projects involving more than one Department.
Delegate of the Administrator in respect of:
All responsibilities of the Administrator under Enactments administered by the Departments of Agriculture, Stock & Fisheries; Forests; Lands, Surveys and Mines; Posts and Telegraphs; Trade and Industry; except for those responsibilities delegated to holders of Ministerial office and Departmental Heads and including Administrator’s responsibilities in respect of statutory authorities set up by these Enactments (e.g. Copra Marketing Board).
Assistant Administrator (Services)
Second ranking Official Member of the House of Assembly; responsible in the House for policy issues relating to the Public Service, the Department of Information and Extension Services and the Police.
Official Member of the A.E. C.
Member of the I.D.C.C.
Chairman, Works Consultative Committee (an I.D.C.C. Committee)
Chairman, Public Relations Advisory Committee (an I.D.C.C. Committee)
Represents Administration in all matters relating to tertiary education.
Responsible for adherence to works programming procedures and to authorised architectural and construction standards.
Delegate of the Administrator in respect of:
All responsibilities of the Administrator in respect of Enactments administered by the Departments of Education, Labour, Public Health and Public Works, except for those responsibilities delegated to holders of Ministerial office and Departmental Heads.
Liaison, on behalf of the Administrator, with Commonwealth Departments and authorities operating in the Territory.
I am convinced, on the basis of the considerations set out in this letter, that the classification for Assistant Administrators proposed by the Public Service Commissioner in his memorandum of 28th June,5 namely one full range above that of the Senior Departmental Heads, is fully justified.
[NAA: A452, 1968/4245]
Administrative delegations and the role of Assistant Administrators
The role of Assistant Administrators under the new constitutional arrangements was debated further in the latter half of 1968—as were specific administrative delegations.1 While Territories was considering Hay’s communication of 1 July (Document 205), Barnes sent a letter to the Administrator outlining the principles and proposed scope of these delegations. He wrote that
For constitutional development reasons there should be greater devolution of authority to the Administrator and the Administrator’s Executive Council. However the Minister remains responsible for all actions of the Administrator … and the Minister must always be satisfied that proper administrative means exist for the effective exercise of delegations or authorisations and for the adequate surveillance of them by the Minister. 2
A lengthy attachment to the letter detailed precise suggestions on financial and works authorisations, which Hay deemed ‘generally acceptable, indeed welcome’.3 Nonetheless—and re-igniting the earlier debate—he objected to the recommendation in the attachment that ‘Assistant Administrators … have no authorisation in respect of requisitions for Departments to which Ministerial Members have been appointed except that in the absence of the Administrator from Port Moresby they may exercise the Administrator’s authorisation on behalf of the Administrator’. 4 Pointing to his letter of 1 July, Hay countered that Assistant Administrators could hold delegations for capital works and purchases, maintenance and departmental expenditure.5 Covering by now well-worn ground, Warwick Smith retorted:
The difficulty I see about delegations to Assistant Administrators in respect of departments which have Ministerial Members is to determine how they fit into the political picture in relation to Ministerial Members. The suggestion about authorising on behalf of the Administrator was aimed at meeting practical needs.6
These matters were discussed between Barnes, Warwick Smith and Hay on 29 July.7 Hay argued his position strongly, and while there was agreement in principle over works authorisations, the substantial problem relating to the place of Assistant Administrators remained.8
Another meeting occurred in October. Warwick Smith raised the Department’s difficulties with the letter of 1 July, referring particularly to the idea that Assistant Administrators would be ‘delegate of the Administrator in respect of all responsibilities of the Administrator under enactments administrated by … Department[s]’. Hay replied that ‘he had not intended to hand over his authority to the Assistant Administrators under all these enactments and that it was necessary to categorize delegations respectively to Departmental Heads, Assistant Administrators and Ministerial Members … also … the [delegation] duty statement should include a statement that the Assistant Administrators were to be Senior Policy Advisors to the Administrator’.9 The exchange satisfied neither party, and disagreement continued into 1969.
1 For context, see Document 188 and footnote 3, Document 197.
2 It required that the functions and duties of Assistant Administrators be described in a gazette notice (see minute, Ballard to Warwick Smith, 4 July 1968, NAA: A452, 1968/4245).
3 Document 124.
4 Ellipsis and that following is in the original.
5 Not printed.
1 For background on the issue of delegations, see Document 144.
2 Letter, Barnes to Hay, 3 July 1968, NAA: A452, 1968/4245.
3 Telex 6357, Hay to Warwick Smith, 18 July 1968, ibid.
4 Attachment to letter, Barnes to Hay, 7 July 1968, ibid.
5 Telex 6357, Hay to Warwick Smith, 18 July 1968, ibid.
6 Telex 5525, Warwick Smith to Hay, 23 July 1968, ibid.
7 Letter, Hay to Warwick Smith, I August 1968, ibid.
8 cf. loc. cit. and notes of meeting between Warwick Smith, Hay and Somers, 15 October 1968, ibid.
9 loc. cit.