Internationally, the payment of welfare benefits is increasingly being made contingent on a diverse array of behavioural conditions from attending parenting classes, to sending children to school and getting them immunised. We need more debate about the threat this growing regime of surveillance and punishment poses to citizens’ autonomy.
Paul Krugman keeps reporting that economists ignored things that were kind of obvious. Well, that’s in hindsight. But everyone’s wise in hindsight.
Terry Moran is a man of firm convictions and has been an outspoken critic of managerialist approaches to policy-making -- particularly of top-down (or centre-out) outsourced models. But should we reject these models completely? And if so, what should be in their place? He speaks to the Centre for Public Impact's Sarah Novak.
Both major parties are “showing strong signs of taking on board” the panel’s recommendations, according to APS reviewer Belinda Hutchinson. The University of Sydney chancellor said “engaging with both sides of parliament” was one of the panel’s top priorities and it seemed like both were “keen to see this review…
If there is a change of government, the questions are, would Labor continue the review, abandon it, or reconstitute it, and where would it lead in terms of policy and legislation? These are questions that the federal opposition isn’t yet in any real position to answer, other than taking a sensible ‘interested observer’ stance. Much might depend on what they find if and when they get into the departments and look at the books.
Senior public servants fuel cynicism among citizens and staff if their ambitious rhetoric about innovative new approaches does not achieve the promised outcomes, warns government administration guru Peter Shergold. Delegates at the Public Sector Innovation Show in Canberra got a morning reality-check from the former head of the Department of…
Proactivity at work can help solve problems and create new innovations. Just make sure your energy is directed wisely.
No matter who wins the up-coming federal and state elections, new governments will try to put their stamp on the regulatory world they oversee. Mark Pearson shares important factors to consider when contemplating regulatory change.
Terry Moran's Accountability Roundtable address pays tribute to Jim Carlton AO; lays out how Moran views the next wave of reform; and cites the key steps Moran thinks must be taken as part of David Thodey's review of the Australian Public Service.
Australia’s leading institutions, including government, business, NGOs and media, are among the least-trusted in the world at a time when the Australian economy has experienced 25 years of economic growth. What can the Australian Public Service do to help bridge the trust divide?
There’s a growing sense that core aspects of the governmental mindset that have underpinned housing policy since the 1980s are long overdue for a rethink. And not just in Australia. Federal and state elections in coming weeks provide a timely moment for Australians to reflect on the increasingly obvious failure of governments to manage the triple crises of inflated property prices, lack of affordable housing for people on low to moderate incomes, and property market volatility.
Is a critical ingredient to the success of the National Disability Insurance Scheme being neglected? Laura Davy and Ariella Meltzer argue that under current policy settings, the answer is yes.
When policy problems are complex, we need to understand and learn from the front line. Nicholas Gruen explains ways to improve the early, middle and late stages of institutional learning and change-making, to enable successful policy development. It’s election season in Australia. I can feel the announceables coming on; indeed…
David Thodey says that implementing lasting reform for the APS would be challenged by the requirement for both realism and and optimism. As always, reform will need strong leadership and enthusiastic support at all levels, in all locations and across all functions.
Our culture is awash with abstraction, universalism and instrumentalism, and as such is desperately in need of balancing with precisely the kind of thing that the ethics of care can offer. Here are some introductory reflections.
