Suchergebnisse

Predictable and unpredictable challenges continually confront the policy settings and policy frameworks of governments. They provide a constantly changing dynamic within which policy-making operates. Governments at all levels are asking their public services to identify innovative and workable reforms to anticipate and address these challenges. Public service leaders around the world are struggling not only to better anticipate emerging demands but also to address reform backlogs. However, time and time again, major policy reforms can prove tough to implement – especially in turbulent environments – and even tougher to anchor over time. This leads to considerable uncertainty and inefficiency as governments and policy communities try to keep pace with change. Policies that unravel or are dismantled are costly and represent wasted opportunities. They lead to cynicism about the effectiveness of governments and public service advice more generally, making it more difficult to deal with other emerging challenges. This volume of proactive essays on delivering policy reform offers an intriguing blend of strategic policy advice and management insight. It brings together a diverse range of highquality contributors from overseas as well as from Australia and New Zealand – including national political leaders, public service executives, heads of independent agencies, and leading international scholars.

Secretaries of government departments in Australia are the bureaucratic leaders of their generation. They are ambitious, highly-talented executives who have risen to the very pinnacle of their chosen vocation – public service to the Australian nation – usually after having spent most, if not all, of their professional careers dedicated to the public service. They serve governments as their top advisers and in policy terms are often some of the most important decision-makers in the country. This collection brings together the valedictory speeches and essays from a departing group of secretaries (and one or two other equivalent agency heads) who left the Australian Public Service between 2004 and 2011. Over this period of time it gradually became accepted that departing secretaries and heads of significant agencies would present a valedictory address to their peers at a public farewell function. The first two speeches in this collection were initiated informally and given at functions organised by their agencies; in 2005 the process was formalised with the Australian Public Service Commission acting as organiser.

These contributions contain reflections, commentaries, occasional fond memories or key turning-points in careers, critiques of changes that have occurred and an outline of the remaining challenges their successors will face as the public administrators of tomorrow.

From the outset it is clear that there is no uniform message, no single narrative levelled either in praise or in criticism, other than pride in the public service and strong belief in the contribution it makes to the Australian community. They have their own personal 'takes' on how the public service looks to them, on its performance and on the challenges confronting public administration into the future. Most spend some time looking back, reflecting on the extent of change that has occurred over the length of their careers; but equally importantly they look forward, anticipating future policy dilemmas and capacity challenges.

Preliminary -- Foreword -- Contributors -- Part I. The reform challenge -- 1. Delivering policy reform: making it happen, making it stick -- 2. 'Don't waste the crisis': the agenda for public-policy reforms in a turbulent world -- 3. Making reforms sustainable: lessons from the American policy reform experience -- Part II. National reform initiatives -- 4. How to design and deliver reform that makes a real difference: what recent history has taught us as a nation -- 5. The 'new responsibility model' for New Zealand public-sector CEOs -- 6. A portent of things to come: lessons from a reforming minister -- 7. The agenda for achieving a world-class public sector: making reforms that matter in the face of challenges -- 8. Collaborative reform: lessons from the COAG Reform Council, 2008-2010 -- 9. Entrenching 'Rogernomics' in New Zealand: political and academic perspectives -- 10. Institutional renewal and reform: the challenge of the Commonwealth of Nations -- Part III. Tackling and anchoring reforminitiatives -- 11. Tackling cartels: lessons for making and entrenching reform -- 12. The overhaul of Australian immigration practices, 2005-2010 -- 13. Getting integrity reforms adopted internationally -- 14. Sustaining water reform in Australia -- 15. Up in smoke: combating tobacco through legislative reform -- 16. Improving road safety: perspectives from Victoria's Transport Accident Commission -- 17. Epilogue: rules for reformers.

Modern governments have undergone significant change over the past 30 years. Such change has impacted on the way governments structure their organisations, deliver services and relate to their citizenry. But how has public policy formulation changed and affected the design and delivery of government programs and services in Australia? Policy in Action is the first book to address this question, offering descriptive accounts of how public services programs are designed and implemented and how they might be better managed

Modern governments have undergone significant change over the past 30 years. Such change has impacted on the way governments structure their organisations, deliver services and relate to their citizenry. But how has public policy formulation changed and affected the design and delivery of government programs and services in Australia? Policy in Action is the first book to address this question, offering descriptive accounts of how public services programs are designed and implemented and how they might be better managed.

Biography; Politicians; History; Australia

Secretaries of government departments in Australia are the bureaucratic leaders of their generation. They are ambitious, highly-talented executives who have risen to the very pinnacle of their chosen vocation – public service to the Australian nation – usually after having spent most, if not all, of their professional careers dedicated to the public service. They serve governments as their top advisers and in policy terms are often some of the most important decision-makers in the country. This collection brings together the valedictory speeches and essays from a departing group of secretaries (and one or two other equivalent agency heads) who left the Australian Public Service between 2004 and 2011. Over this period of time it gradually became accepted that departing secretaries and heads of significant agencies would present a valedictory address to their peers at a public farewell function. The first two speeches in this collection were initiated informally and given at functions organised by their agencies; in 2005 the process was formalised with the Australian Public Service Commission acting as organiser. These contributions contain reflections, commentaries, occasional fond memories or key turning-points in careers, critiques of changes that have occurred and an outline of the remaining challenges their successors will face as the public administrators of tomorrow. From the outset it is clear that there is no uniform message, no single narrative levelled either in praise or in criticism, other than pride in the public service and strong belief in the contribution it makes to the Australian community. They have their own personal 'takes' on how the public service looks to them, on its performance and on the challenges confronting public administration into the future. Most spend some time looking back, reflecting on the extent of change that has occurred over the length of their careers; but equally importantly they look forward, anticipating future policy dilemmas and capacity challenges.

Introduction /Andrew Podger and John Wanna --Yes, minister : the privileged position of secretaries /Roger Beale --My fortunate career and some parting remarks /Andrew Podger --Performance management and the performance pay paradox /Allan Hawke --Thirty-eight years toiling in the vineyard of public service /Ric Smith --The last count -- the importance of official statistics to the democratic process /Dennis Trewin --Balancing life at home and away in the Australian Public Service /Joanna Hewitt --In the national interest /Peter Shergold --Impressions, observations and lessons from a Canberra outsider /Robert Cornall --An unlikely secretary : a boy from the outer agencies /Mark Sullivan --As if for a thousand years: the challenges ahead for the APS /David Borthwick --Reflections of an 'unabashed rationalist' /Peter Boxall --Our custodial role for the quality of advisory relations at the centre of government /Patricia Scott --A road less travelled -- reflecting on three professional pillars of support /Michael L'Estrange --There's a telegram for you : fashioning Australia's unique model of public administration /Ken Matthews --The opportunities, challenges and policy responses for the Australian economy /Ken Henry --The boss in the yellow suit : leading service delivery reform /Lynelle Briggs --The challenges for the public service in protecting Australia's democracy in the future /Terry Moran.