Banks: Australian public sector at pivot point

The former head of the Productivity Commission, Gary Banks, believes that the public sector in Australia is at a pivot point, with both spending and regulation about to decrease after decades of expansion. He says the implications for the public sector are profound.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to be business as usual again,” he said. “I hear this expression a lot — ‘the new normal’. I’m not sure what’s new and I’m not sure what’s normal but in the future I think it’s going to be governments doing less, but doing it better.”

Analytical and facilitation skills are going to be vital for “less but better” public administration, Banks believes, as service delivery is increasingly contracted out to the not for profit or private sector.