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Collaboration has emerged as a central concept in public policy circles in Australia and a panacea to the complex challenges facing Australia. But is this really the cure-all it seems to be? In this edited collection we present scholarly and practitioner perspectives on the drivers, challenges, prospects and promise of collaboration. The papers, first presented at the 2007 ANZSOG Conference, draw on the extensive experience of the contributors in either trying to enact collaboration, or studying the processes of this phenomenon. Together the collection provides important insights into the potential of collaboration, but also the fiercely stubborn barriers to adopting more collaborative approaches to policy and implementation. The collection includes chapter from public servants, third sector managers, and both Australian and international academics which together make it a stimulating read for those working with or within government. It adds considerably to the debate about how to address current challenges of public policy and provides a significant resource for those interested in the realities of collaborative governance.

This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering – the separation of purchasers from providers – undermines another of its essential mechanisms – the specification of services – at the point where previously in‐house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite knowledge of services, which instead resides in the minds of the service delivery staff whose work is to be subjected to competitive processes. Separating purchasing from service‐provision 'distances' the staff from the managers, impairing employees' willingness to share the relevant information. At the same time, the introduction of competition increases the probability that staff will withhold that knowledge, and makes it harder on probity grounds to maintain the type of collaborative relationship which might overcome their reluctance to share it.

This article traces the development of privatisation as a key strategy in public sector reform in Australia, as used to some degree or other by parties of both the left and the right. (Asia Pac J Public Adm/NIAS-Han)

This article traces the development of privatisation as a key strategy in public sector reform in Australia, as used to some degree or other by parties of both the left and right. The article identifies the shift from a more pragmatic approach adopted by Labor as one element of its micro-economic reform program, to a more ideologically driven approach used by successive Liberal Coalition governments. It identifies the range of privatisation utilised by both parties aid concludes that there has been some convergence in approaches. The results have significantly modified the nature of the Australian state and the way it delivers its public services. With a new government of the left elected in November 2007, it remains to be seen whether or not this trajectory will continue. Adapted from the source document.

This article outlines and analyses the principles that have driven John Howard's privatisation agenda in the context of the broader Australian experience. Howard has articulated a vision for the state in which individual choice has primacy over collective decisions, governments are strategic and the public sector is focused more on enabling or facilitating than on directly delivering public services. In this article we identify Howard's articulated vision and contrast this to his time in government to address the question of whether he has, in fact, been a great privatiser. By adopting a broader framework for analysing privatisation, we argue that his vision has, in part, been enacted during the past decade through the politically strategic use of a range of privatisation technologies. Adapted from the source document.

This article traces the development of privatisation as a key strategy in public sector reform in Australia, as used to some degree or other by parties of both the left and right. The article identifies the shift from a more pragmatic approach adopted by Labor as one element of its micro-economic reform program, to a more ideologically driven approach used by successive Liberal Coalition governments. It identifies the range of privatisation utilised by both parties aid concludes that there has been some convergence in approaches. The results have significantly modified the nature of the Australian state and the way it delivers its public services. With a new government of the left elected in November 2007, it remains to be seen whether or not this trajectory will continue. Adapted from the source document.

This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering - the separation of purchasers from providers - undermines another of its essential mechanisms - the specification of services - at the point where previously in-house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite knowledge of services, which instead resides in the minds of the service delivery staff whose work is to be subjected to competitive processes. Separating purchasing from service-provision 'distances' the staff from the managers, impairing employees' willingness to share the relevant information. At the same time, the introduction of competition increases the probability that staff will withhold that knowledge, and makes it harder on probity grounds to maintain the type of collaborative relationship which might overcome their reluctance to share it.

This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering - the separation of purchasers from providers - undermines another of its essential mechanisms - the specification of services - at the point where previously in-house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite knowledge of services, which instead resides in the minds of the service delivery staff whose work is to be subjected to competitive processes. Separating purchasing from service-provision 'distances' the staff from the managers, impairing employees' willingness to share the relevant information. At the same time, the introduction of competition increases the probability that staff will withhold that knowledge, and makes it harder on probity grounds to maintain the type of collaborative relationship which might overcome their reluctance to share it.

It has been two decades since the "public value" framework emerged, articulated initially at the Harvard Kennedy School. In this paper we set out the basics of the original approach, and then consider emerging critiques and meanings. Our aim is firstly to clarify the core concepts of Moore's approach, and secondly to track the new meanings of public value which are developing. This allows us to engage with the growing debate about public value both inside and outside academia, and also to discuss its trajectory as a new idea in public sector management.