Working in government should be empowering — not a punchline Australian Capital Territory Ronald Reagan famously remarked that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'…
There’s a reason not everyone loves citizen engagement Wednesday February 10, 2021 By Alice Whitehead Australian Capital Territory As soon as the subject appears on the horizon, a tangled web of defensive arguments and anecdotes will accumulate to obscure it.
Why is policy drafting such an overlooked skill? Tuesday February 9, 2021 By Lewis Eisen Australian Capital Territory Too many government organisations take their subject matter experts and task them with writing policies, standards, and procedures without ever providing them training on how…
Three actions you can take to reduce the risk of policy failure Friday February 5, 2021 By Oliver Daddow Australian Capital Territory Developing objective measures of what works and what does not, and what caused a policy to fail or succeed, is nigh on impossible. What we can…
Opinion: Does the public sector really care about fairness? Friday February 5, 2021 By Victoria Camp Australian Capital Territory Each of us can choose whether to be the 'innocent' bystander to unfairness in the public sector, or the protagonist willing to speak up about…
Opinion: Why Australia’s governments need corporate memories Wednesday February 3, 2021 By Anne Cathrine Linchausen Australian Capital Territory At this point in time, Australia's various machineries of government are now more important than ever. Interconnected structures and processes of government is critical for…
The sound and the fury signifying nothing: some observations on the new politics Wednesday February 3, 2021 By Nicholas Gruen Australian Capital Territory Electoral politics has been transformed into non-stop campaigning. In the past few years the 24/7 campaigning has started to be done not so much in…
Australia is out of the top ten in global anti-corruption rankings — why? Monday February 1, 2021 By Adam Graycar Australian Capital Territory We have seen a significant drop in standards at the highest levels of government, creating a perception that things that are fast and loose.
Premium Expert briefings Controlling your personal career brand is essential in the public sector Monday January 25, 2021 By Sue Parker Australian Capital Territory Perception is reality unless disproved. Taking control of your personal career brand and impression management is, therefore, essential. Prejudices and narratives originate from personal experiences…
Young people remain ill-equipped to participate in Australian democracy Thursday January 21, 2021 By Zareh Ghazarian, Jacqueline Laughland-Booy and Zlatko Skrbis Australian Capital Territory The latest figures show the previous survey's results were no mere aberration and that student performance in civics and citizenship has remained low.
Opinion: As Trump exits the White House, he leaves Trumpism behind in Australia Monday January 18, 2021 By Mark Kenny Australian Capital Territory Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also…
NT government’s $64m digital solution to help agencies protect vulnerable children Wednesday January 13, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Community & Social The client management system will allow the relevant departments and agencies to access the same information, create the one case file and share information in…
Premium Insights and analysis For public servants, the future of the national cabinet means adapting to centralised power and engineering accountability Monday December 7, 2020 By Chris Woods Australian Capital Territory The establishment of the national cabinet as first a crisis, and ultimately permanent, body has presented the most radical change to Australia's intergovernmental cooperation structures…
What can be learnt from Australia’s electoral system Friday December 4, 2020 By Pavitra Raja Australian Capital Territory The Australian electoral system works. Even Former US President Barack Obama is a fan. Here are four things that other nations can learn from it.
Premium Columnists Quarantine constitutionally a commonwealth power and responsibility Thursday December 3, 2020 By Stephen Bartos Editors' Picks One of the mysteries of Australia’s pandemic response is why states and territories were sucked in to taking responsibility for quarantine, writes Stephen Bartos.
