Both Australia and the United States have reconfigured their public personnel systems to include a central personnel agency and a merit protection agency, but major differences exist in the operations of the latter bodies. The Australian Merit Protection and Review Agency (MPRA) uses a variety of committees to deal with appeals on personnel actions, with promotions being the primary subject of the appeals. Differences between the two countries in the types of appeals and in the appeal processes, themselves, are discussed. In the future, enforcing merit will become more complex as the position-based system yields to a more fluid personnel system.
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