Business leaders mainly have themselves to blame if they feel governments don’t understand their perspectives or listen to their concerns, according to a group of high profile Australians and New Zealanders who generally need no introductions in the corridors of power. Are their problems in the relationship between governments and the private sector? […]
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Chief Methodologist Dr Siu-Ming Tam steps down at the end of the week. He spoke to The Mandarin about dodgy statistics, the history of the ABS and the importance of fishing.
Benjamin Teed is a senior policy analyst in Canada’s Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Here, he delves into the techniques for coming up with an A-grade mission statement that creates a repeatable, scalable process which lets public servants bring out the best, most visionary parts of our leaders, our stakeholders, and oneself. What’s your […]
As Australia and the First peoples contemplate treaty and constitutional recognition, there must an acceptance that there are two major players in this, the First Peoples and the Australian electorate. A facilitated dialogue, like a mini-public may have the best likelihood of people and ideas coming together in the search for the best outcome.
Victoria’s Special Minister of State and the Victorian Branch Secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union jointly announced the Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE) in July 2019. The origin and future direction of the VPS JSE are not as straightforward as would seem.
Annette Michaux and Nat Kendall-Taylor outline the five major strategies for moving forward on child protection that resulted from a major national research project involving more than 7600 Australians. They say that how safe our children are from abuse and neglect and whether we support them to develop in a healthy way is an important measure of how healthy our communities are.
Amid the ongoing search for the holy grail of “local” service-delivery design, one of the very few certainties is the APS is nowhere near ready to deploy digital regulation to social services. When it comes to people, good policy outcomes do not equate to the best relationship outcomes.
Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter has released a draft package of religious freedom bills, including the much-anticipated Religious Discrimination Bill. These bills respond to earlier inquiries into the protection of religious freedom under Australian law. They implement some of the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Religious Freedom (known as the Ruddock review).
THE BIG INTERVIEW by Martin Stewart-Weeks: An in-depth Q&A with a key player in the Australian public sector or political space. The series starts with the Sarah Pearson toolkit for influence and getting stuff done.
In a world where governing is becoming increasingly difficult and the pressures on public servants are rising, how can leaders navigate transformation and disruption? Being skilled at communicating with all types of staff and communities and understanding their values and needs can help define progressive outcomes.
Twenty-eight years of economic prosperity has led to spending becoming the default policy lever, worries Victorian Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions boss Simon Phemister. Plus, why he thinks ministers do value frank and fearless advice and is wary of private-sector plants.
In this world of the machine, or the artificial, there are a number of challenges to accountability. First and foremost, we need to create herd immunity through digital literacy. We need to know what these new systems are, what they can do, how they work and what the limitations are.
Accountability is a term often thrown around as a worthy goal in government and business dealings, especially in the cyber space. So, it is worth spending a moment considering what we mean – and what governments mean, when they commit to accountability in dealing with information.
There are really only two choices for this country: We can take pride in our diversity and use it as an advantage when interacting with the world, or we can hunker down behind borders and slowly gnaw at each other.
Australia’s primary federal renewable energy target -- to have 33 terawatts of renewable energy by 2020 -- has essentially been achieved. There is much uncertainty as to what is next.
