About the author Journalist David Donaldson is a journalist at The Mandarin based in Melbourne. Follow David Donaldson
Premium Interviews Understand the context and motivations behind the minister’s request, recommends Gillard CoS Ben Hubbard — and don’t be an ‘adviser denier’ Friday November 15, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Ben Hubbard twice worked as chief of staff to Julia Gillard — in separate stints as deputy prime minister and PM. He was CEO of… Read more
Premium Expert briefings The ‘dominant, powerful, charismatic individual who breaks the rules’: corrupt senior executives — why do they do it? Wednesday November 13, 2019 By David Donaldson Features Corrupt senior officials tend to have particular personality traits — and it's about more than greed. The experts reveal the behavioural red flags to look… Read more
Premium Case studies Innovating for customers: putting senior staff in front of citizens brings unexpected discoveries and undercuts silos Thursday November 7, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Singapore’s Innovation Lab is helping public servants work more closely with stakeholders and prototype new services, explains Alexander Lau. It's led to some surprising findings… Read more
Premium Case studies From mountains of paper to fully online case management: what the Victorian Supreme Court’s digital transformation taught Justice James Elliott about leading IT projects Wednesday November 6, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Victoria's Supreme Court has spent several years bringing its outdated tech systems up to date. Justice James Elliott explains how the court improved capability and… Read more
Premium Case studies Rebecca Brown reflects on WA’s health system reform: invest time in stakeholders, and call in systems thinkers Friday November 1, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies A few years ago Western Australia overhauled its health system with the aim of improving patient outcomes and saving the state money. One of the… Read more
Satellite imagery raises questions about source of dam water in drought-hit NSW Monday October 28, 2019 By David Donaldson Energy & Environment Following revelations of a failing water management system in 2017, regulators have been fighting back against water theft with new tools. This includes a combination… Read more
Premium Case studies How regulators are responding to water theft — and even watching irrigators from space Monday October 28, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Water theft burst into the national consciousness with a Four Corners story detailing alleged illegal pumping of water from the Murray-Darling river system and failures… Read more
Premium Insights and analysis Good money after bad: six reasons why governments ignore evidence of service failure — and how to do better Thursday October 24, 2019 By David Donaldson Features There are some pretty fundamental reasons why governments continue spending money on poorly performing programs, explains DJPR deputy secretary David Clements. But he also has… Read more
Premium Case studies Following America’s own robodebt scandal, New Mexico took a different path to tackling welfare fraud. It was just the ticket Friday October 18, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Robodebt was not the first welfare algorithm to falsely accuse beneficiaries of fraud. Seeking to avoid these problems, New Mexico opted for a nudge-based system… Read more
Premium Case studies How Victoria’s award-winning prescription monitoring system SafeScript is fighting overdose — and won over the AMA Friday October 11, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Each year, more Victorians die from prescription medications than road accidents or illicit drugs. And yet until recently, there was no reliable way for doctors… Read more
Premium Case studies Data analytics that sits on a shelf isn’t useful to anyone. How Brad Petry used ‘lighthouse’ projects, based on front-line needs, to make an impact and demonstrate value Tuesday October 8, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies The Victorian government's central data unit is improving capability in everything from budgeting to tracking diseases. Solutions don't need to be complicated, says head of… Read more
Premium Interviews Practice saying no and stop under-rating implementation, says Fran Thorn. Then, learn how to convince everyone your idea is not entirely stupid Thursday October 3, 2019 By David Donaldson Features The processes of making decisions might seem perfectly sane and sensible when you’re inside government, but when you’re outside government on the receiving end of… Read more
Premium Expert briefings Integrate chatbots into your other systems to make them useful for customers, and don’t assume they’ll replace humans Monday September 23, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Chatbots hold plenty of potential for government to improve its customer service. We spoke to the chatbot specialists at one company, AGL, which has been… Read more
Premium Interviews Setting up a social impact bond requires thinking through many barriers around data and measuring success. Amy Auster is stewarding two rollouts with an eye to early intervention Friday September 20, 2019 By David Donaldson Features "Early intervention is a bit of a nirvana," says Amy Auster, deputy secretary economic at the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. Hard, but the… Read more
Premium Interviews Emily Phillips leads a highly distributed, highly visible agency. Finding the breathing space for innovation has taken contemporary leadership, strategy and partners Thursday September 19, 2019 By David Donaldson Features The CEO of Agriculture Victoria talks bee biosecurity, unexpected career turns and agency branding. Read more
