Obama's ambassador to the UN on how she avoided bureaucratic isolation while tackling ISIS, why presidents prefer golf, and finding 'one's slice of change that one can make'.
When designing a new service, there can be a lot of pressure to nail down a project plan and get on with it. But spending more time consulting, throwing around ideas and testing them before charging ahead can really pay off.
Even if you've completed your course in agile and lined up the authorising environment in favour of change, workplace habits and the relentless daily pressure of government can easily stifle innovation.
Treating the public service like a business has become the norm, with the structures, language, practices and incentives inherited from private sector managerialism. We know that citizens don’t expect public sectors to act the same way — which is evident in the feedback, discussions, user research and myriad public engagements — yet when we adopt the mindset of a business we create pressure to act more like a business in everything we do.
The Data (R)Evolution, goes to the heart of a question that we must confront if we are to take a modern Australia into the digital age: Can we simply continue to evolve and tinker with our existing policy frameworks? Or do we require a more radical rethink of markets, welfare, and fundamental protections?
In this year’s Williams Oration, Australian Space Agency chief executive Dr Megan Clark offered to explain the thinking behind foundational decisions taken in the agency’s establishment, for the benefit of her fellow public sector leaders. She hopes the agency can maintain an early groundswell of community support though lots of open, honest dialogue with stakeholders and a commitment to stick its word.
The fires devastating our communities on the eastern seaboard are covering more than a million hectares even before we reach summer. They are, as predicted, joining and growing into mega-fires. Mega-fires create their own unpredictable internal weather systems; they can be as hot as a Bunsen burner at 100 metres, and they’ll overwhelm and engulf […]
With calls for more investment in infrastructure to help stimulate the Australian economy, it's also time for policymakers to think beyond traditional views of what this infrastructure might be. This means considering infrastructure that helps the process of reform in the economy. If we are strategic, it should also prepare Australia for some of the disruptions that are coming toward us — particularly in healthcare.
Ben Hubbard twice worked as chief of staff to Julia Gillard — in separate stints as deputy prime minister and PM. He was CEO of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, coordinating recovery efforts after the Black Saturday fires. He also worked for Victorian premiers John Brumby and Steve Bracks. He discusses public servants working with the minister's office, how to be a CoS, and fixing the staffer system.
Look, listen, and learn. Michael Pratt AM, Secretary of NSW Treasury, has cracked the code for what to tell an eager minister after walking into that new challenging job: don't panic, we’ll get there, but you have to establish a really good foundation on which to build.
AI is an incredibly complex and rapidly evolving area that needs stewardship not only to effectively navigate and facilitate developments but also to make sure risks are managed with the appropriate regulations and measures. Mike Erskine discusses how we can harness the potential of AI systems without exacerbating existing inequalities and biases.
New Zealand's State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes sat down with The Mandarin’s Peter Debus to talk the evolution of public sector reform, how it will build on past innovations, and what it means to have ‘a spirit of service’.
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes sat down with The Mandarin’s Peter Debus to talk about the evolution of public sector reform, how it will build on past innovations, and what it means to have ‘a spirit of service’. Here is part 1.
When Glyn Davis was invited to speak at the 2019 BiiG Network innovation conference, he had expected to talk about the findings of the Australian Public Service review. But, as the review panel member noted in his speech at the conference last week, the future is almost impossible to predict.
Openness is a critical tenet for modern public sectors if they are to be capable of responsiveness and resilience in the face of dramatic and rapid change, and to best ensure evidence-driven policy, programs, and service delivery. Pia Andrews has some ideas about how open government can (and arguably should) apply to all digital government and transformation efforts in public sectors.
