Values Week 2025 invites public sector employees across Victoria to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the seven values that underpin their work:  Respect, Responsiveness, Impartiality, Integrity, Accountability, Leadership, and Human Rights. Running from 13 to 17 October and coinciding with World Values Day on 16 October, the week highlights how these shared values shape ethical public service. It also celebrates the people who exemplify them, strengthening trust between government and community.

In this blog, we highlight the role of the Victorian public sector values in guiding ethical conduct, supporting effective public service and celebrating those who demonstrate them in practice. We also explain that three of these values are requirements of the Victorian Government Purchasing Board for personnel involved in procurement.

Why Values Matter in the Victorian Public Sector

The Public Administration Act 2004 establishes the values that guide the conduct and performance of all public sector employees. Together with the Code of Conduct, they form the foundation of the Victorian public sector’s integrity and accountability framework.

According to the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC): “Values define what is important to an organisation and how things will be done. In the Victorian public sector, they underpin an employee’s interaction with the government, community, suppliers and other employees… “They are meaningful, practical and the guardrails of public sector craft. Keeping them at the top of your mind can help you navigate times of change and transition. The values can help you care for and support your colleagues and serve your community.”

By applying these values consistently, public servants strengthen confidence in government, build trust within the community, and ensure decisions are made with fairness and transparency. Conversely, as the VPSC notes, “a failure to adhere to these values lessens the confidence of the Government, the Parliament, and the Victorian community in the public sector.”

The Seven Values

The seven values provide a clear and practical framework for ethical behaviour across the Victorian public sector. They guide decision-making, professional conduct and relationships with colleagues, the government and the community.

Public officials should demonstrate:

1.        Respect

2.        Responsiveness

3.        Impartiality

4.        Integrity

5.        Accountability

6.        Leadership

7.        Human Rights.

As the Victorian Public Sector Commissioner Brigid Monagle stated in 2024, these values:

“…are not just lofty ambitions or nice to have, but tangible, practical and apply to all of us in every part of our working lives. They are a legally binding condition of our employment law through the Public Administration Act 2004 which requires we act consistently with the Public Sector Values.

“The Code of Conduct expands on these values. The Code guides the way we work with the government of the day, community and colleagues and describes the behaviour that is rightly expected of us.”

Celebrating VPS Values

Values Week 2025 invites all public sector employees to reflect on how these values shape their daily work – from decision-making to teamwork and community engagement. As the VPSC notes, the week is “all about embracing our values and celebrating the public servants who exemplify them.”

Employees are encouraged to send a Values Thank You card to acknowledge colleagues or teams who demonstrate values-driven excellence.

Keeping the values “at the top of your mind can help you navigate times of change and transition” and “help you care for and support your colleagues and serve your community”.

Probity and the VPS Values

In our role as probity advisors to government, CourtHeath provides briefings to VPS personnel about probity principles, including the practical application of the three VPS values that most directly relate to probity:

1. Integrity
2. Impartiality
3. Accountability.

The Victorian Government Purchasing Board (VGPB) guide on Probity in Procurement lists these three values as its first probity principle due to their importance in achieving probity in procurement:

In a procurement process, these “probity values” are demonstrated through:

Integrity

• being fair, honest, open and transparent in all dealings;
• using powers responsibly;
• addressing and managing improper conduct;
• managing any real, perceived or potential conflicts of interest;
• striving to earn and sustain a high level of public trust;

Impartiality

• making decisions and providing advice based on merit—without bias, unpredictability, favouritism or self-interest;
• acting fairly by objectively considering all relevant facts and criteria;

Accountability

• ensuring all personnel involved in the project know their responsibilities and are accountable for their actions: and
• being aware of and complying with any government laws, policies and frameworks and organisational requirements e. g. gifts, benefits and hospitality, fair payment policy.

When involved in procurement, you can embody these core values by demonstrating integrity, impartiality and accountability. Whether your role is as an evaluator, endorser or approver, considering the probity values and ensuring the records of your procurement process align with those values is essential. Join us in recognising the role these values play in delivering effective and ethical public procurement in Victoria.

Carrying the Values Forward

Throughout the Victorian public sector, every public servant contributes to upholding the standards that sustain Victoria’s integrity system. By embodying the seven values, employees reinforce public confidence and model what ethical public service looks like in practice.

As Values Week 2025 reminds us, living these values is not a one-week exercise but a daily commitment to integrity, fairness, and respect in service of all Victorians.

Resources

• Celebrate Values Week 2025
• Code of Conduct
• Public Administration Act 2004
• Public Sector Values

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CourtHeath acknowledges the Traditional Aboriginal Owners of Country throughout Victoria and pays respect to Elders past and present, and to the ongoing living culture of Aboriginal people.

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IMAGE: VPSC

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