By the APS Academy and Style Manual teams, Australian Public Service Commission
The Government writing handbook is a handy guide for everyone in the APS who writes. In other words, it’s a valuable resource for every public servant. It is a companion to the Australian Government Style Manual (Style Manual), but with greater focus on the craft of writing.
Drawing from Style Manual guidance, it covers the style elements people frequently use in government writing and provides helpful examples and practical tips.
Writing clearly helps everyone
Everyone in government writes. It is the most common way we communicate:
- with executive government
- within the Australian Public Service (APS)
- with the Australian public.
We write to inform, educate and engage. And we must write with our readers in mind. If you don't know who you’re writing for, you risk writing something they won’t understand or won't read.
Respect your audience, and their time, by writing content that is readable and usable.
Clear, concise and consistent writing is essential. It ensures that government content is effective and useful.
Here's what people are saying about the Government writing handbook
“A great resource. A quick scroll through the PDF showed me there are some things I didn't know I didn't know.’
‘A great, complementary resource to the Style Manual.’
‘I love the Style Manual as a tool to search for answers when I'm not sure how to write correctly…. The writing handbook is a great guide to step me through how to write well.’
‘I like how the handbook is split into 2 sections. One explains how to write for readers. The other gives great tips on how to write clearly."
You can find the Government writing handbook as a resource on the APS Academy's Working in Government Craft page under ‘tools and templates’ or view the web version.