THE PIA REVIEW: PIA ANDREWS This is a Public Sector Pia Review — a series on better public sectors. Over the past decade, I have been involved in several efforts trying to make public sectors better. I’ve observed a lot of effort is put into tweaking traditional models of working…
THE PIA REVIEW: PIA ANDREWS This is a Public Sector Pia Review — a series on better public sectors. I have always been fascinated by ‘public policy’. It is a term that is used interchangeably for anything from a dot point in a speech, to legislation, to an operating manual,…
Following ‘Shergie’s farewell tour’ last year, Peter Shergold gave his final performance as outgoing IPAA National president at the association’s conference in Darwin last week. He reflected on the public service’s ability to moderate the damaging impulses of politicians and the importance of non-partisan actors in democratic government. I am…
There has been growing attention to the declining levels of public trust in our politicians, public, and democratic institutions. Recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed that trust in politics is worst among middle-income Australians. At the time, he described the public sector as central to addressing this through service delivery…
There are many different fields of design producing all manner of things, from graphics to physical objects to policies or experiences, but they all have one thing in common that also explains why design thinking is increasingly valued in business and government. Enthusiasm for ideas like co-design, human-centred design and…
Diminishing trust in all our institutions may well be the defining feature of this decade. With each new survey, we see dwindling faith in politics, business, charities and even our neighbours. Social capital, the once-lauded holy grail of community, is crumbling and being replaced by suspicion, hubris and barefaced lies.…
The digital future of support functions will be exciting. As traditional, time-intensive tasks get handled through smart digital tools, people can focus on asking the right questions, running and interpreting analyses, drawing conclusions, managing trade-offs, and generating insights that help business units create new value. Capitalising on this potential, however,…
It is widely acknowledged that government needs to shift away from acute services and towards prevention. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. “Early intervention is a bit of a nirvana,” says Amy Auster, deputy secretary economic at the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. “It’s a bit like tax reform…
Governments don’t govern alone. The shared responsibilities of public sector governance fall broadly into two categories – performance and conformance – and a lot of them land on public servants. Discharging these solemn duties can be a challenge when time is of the essence and process becomes a dirty word.…
The Morrison government’s combative rhetoric toward business leaders is one of many signs of strained relationships across the public-private divide, but a new report offers hope of happier times and mutually satisfying public policy. Describing government as a“complex dance” involving politicians, departments, regulatory bodies, the media, advocates and lobbyists, the…
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. Dr Siu-Ming Tam has been around the Australian Bureau of Statistics for over three…
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…
As Australia and the First peoples contemplate treaty and constitutional recognition, there must be 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…
The origin and future direction of VPS Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE) are not as straightforward as would seem. Victoria’s Special Minister of State and the Victorian Branch Secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union jointly announced the JSE in July 2019. This is a new initiative for expanding…
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…
