Continuity and change in the outer public service

This chapter continues the record of changes in the outer public sector carried through all previous volumes of the Australian Commonwealth Administration series. As in all previous volumes, here the 'outer public service' is conceived of as that part of the public sector that is made up of non-departmemntal public bodies (NDPBs) -- a broad category comprising mainly statutory authorities and corporations, government-owned companies and executive agencies, all of which fall outside the central establishment of ministerial departments and a few parliamentary departments. The word 'quango' is sometimes used an an alternative general class name.