bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
BUREAUCRATIC POLITICS AND THE DEMISE OF THE COMMONWEALTH TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION
Authors: Marshall Neil
Published: March 2008

Abstract: In the early 1980s the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission functioned as a relatively independent, self‐directed policy arena within the commonwealth bureaucracy. Policy outputs tended to be consistent and coherent over time. During the last three or four years, however, a number of federal departments succeeded in gaining control over aspects of tertiary education policy. This development was due partly to a changed economic environment which encouraged the growth of cross‐sectoral programs, and partly to administrative reforms introduced by the Hawke government which fostered increased interdepartmental competition. The outcome was the fragmentation of the tertiary education policy process. The removal of CTEC and the creation of the Department of Employment, Education and Training is an attempt to reimpose a greater degree of coordination and integration upon tertiary education policy procedures.
MODELLING COORDINATION
Authors: Minnery John R.
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Coordination is an important concept in both the study and the practice of public administration. Complex tasks are split up into manageable sub‐tasks with the result that the pieces need to be coordinated. Coordination is necessary and sensible, yet it is widely recognised that it can also be a facade to hide coercion and conflict.

This article explores the practice of coordination in public adminstration. It develops the four models of hierarchical control, use‐of‐power, adjustment, and common purpose as forms of coordination then illustrates each from the work of the Queensland Co‐ordinator‐General. Each model is described in terms of structure, processes, outcome and values. The models help to draw out important but less visible features of central coordination.
A MANAGERIALIST STRIKES BACK
Authors: Paterson John
Published: March 2008

Abstract: In view of a rather one‐sided recent debate, “managerialism” in bureaucracy calls for a defence. The alternate paradigm, which is said to turn on legal as opposed to economic rationality, has not been systematically dealt with by the anti‐managerialists. The functions to which it refers have always in practice been only a small element of public sector activity. The new artifacts of administration are properly viewed as a public sector reflection of wider thought on organisations and quality of working life. They have some common origins with contemporary private sector practice rather than being derived by copying the private sector. Management and policy skills are not mutually exclusive; indeed the contrary is true. Finally, in relation to broadly accepted ethical norms, modern public administration compares well with that which has gone before.
PACKAGING THE HUMAN SERVICES
Authors: Healy Judith
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Public sector human service organisations are being restructured to produce new service delivery systems to fit new concepts of needs. Other major goals are the pursuit of greater ministerial control over policy and increased cost efficiency. This paper examines recent reshuffles, particularly in South Australia, in terms of the classic principles for grouping functions: purpose, process, people and place. There is no one prescription for restructuring, but the trend to bigger departments and block funding favours pu?ose and process groupings. A key factor in these restructures is the competition among occupational groups. It is much more difficult to evaluate the impact upon the supposed main beneficiaries, the service users.
AUTHORSHIP AND THE PUBLIC SPEECH
Authors: Miller Toby
Published: March 2008

Abstract: At one level, this paper is a fairly straightforward analysis of speeches about industry training made by two business people on behalf of the state. As such, it can be situated within a constellation of relations described by the following formations: relations between and within business and government; the role of non‐statutory public advisory bodies; and the nexus of economy and training. At a second level, the paper may be read as an attempt to address the techniques of speech writing within the public service and how these resonate with “famous names” to produce authored — and authorised — documents. And at a third level, what I am seeking is to advocate the use of discourse analysis in the study of Australian public policy, by positioning the speeches within a set of structuring forms of knowledge. I want particularly to argue for the dominance of neoclassical economics as a key logic determining the terms of truth within such speeches. This will be maintained both through a reading of these specific texts and a discussion of the context within which they were produced, circulated and consumed.
STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATIONS AMONG CANADIAN CROWN CORPORATIONS*
Authors: Boothman Barry E. C.
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Among the developed and developing countries, the use of government corporations in business has come under increased scrutiny. Fundamental questions are being asked about the problems of public enterprise management, the roles of corporate executives, and their relationships to the governments and societies which they serve. Sadly, the interpretations of policy‐makers often have been derived from cliches or myths, not from systematic appraisals of the phenomena propelling the behaviour of those firms. By reviewing the evolutionary tendencies among Canadian public corporations which are engaged in commercial activities, this paper seeks to clarify aspects of those debates. The suggestion is that, as an analysis steps back from the minutiae of day‐to‐day management, single decisions, and individual conflicts with government officials, developmental patterns can be identified across corporation histories. Public enterprises, like their counterparts in the private sector, move through phases which have configurations of business strategies and internal administrations, regimes of accountability, and dominant interpretations of organisational performance or “success”. On a long‐term basis, some corporations have come to compete directly against private firms, and their organisational and competitive practices have been modelled along the lines of those rivals. Others have been differentiated away from the orientations of private firms and niche positions have been adopted within their industries. The choices have reflected the structure of the markets in which the enterprises have operated, their financial status, and the command structures which have surrounded them.
PRIVATISING REGULATION
Authors: Goldring John
Published: March 2008

Abstract: The current political climate appears to foster policies often described as “deregulatory” and to promote an attitude that the administrative machinery of the state should be dismantled. It may be assumed that such policies accompany a reduction in the amount of state intervention in the economy and society. This article argues that in fact state intervention may not be diminishing as much as might be thought. Instead, the form of intervention is changing. Instead of bureaucratic intervention by central authorities, there is a tendency to create mechanisms, often but not invariably legal mechanisms, which may be enforced by private individuals and corporations. Though possibly attractive because of the reduced cost of administrative structures and personnel, the “privatisation” of state regulation may have more disadvantages than advantages.
RECONSTRUCTING ABORIGINAL HOUSING POLICY FOR REMOTE AREAS: HOW MUCH ROOM FOR MANOEUVRE?
Authors: Sanders Will
Published: March 2008

Abstract: This article applies Schaffer's 1984 critique of the “sectoralism” of mainstream public policy practice and discourse to Aboriginal housing policy in Australia. It analyses the approaches and programs of the Aboriginal housing policy sector and the priority given to them over the years. It then identifies the dominant agenda of Aboriginal housing policy defined in terms of massive statistics of nationwide Aboriginal housing need. An alterative agenda defined in terms of appropriate non‐conventional housing and facilities for remote areas is also identified and its struggle for recognition traced. The final sections of the article suggest reasons why this alternative agenda has remained on the margins of the Aboriginal housing policy sector and examine its prospects for becoming less marginal in the future.
THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF INTERNATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
Authors: Baker Randall , Raadschelders Julie Bivin
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Increasingly, the terms occupying centre stage on the policy agenda in many countries are global in reach. Thus they stretch the operational efficiency and suitability of the fabric of the sovereign state to its limits, and beyond. In particular the issue of global environmental change is demonstrating the need to break new ground in terms of institutions and instruments which provide vehicles for the creation and implementation of public policy “beyond the state”. This paper explores the evolution of this situation during this century, and considers the institutional responses to the need for broader and broader geographical expressions of sovereignty.
FEDERALISM IS ALIVE AND SURPRISINGLY HEALTHY
Authors: Chapman Ralph J.K.
Published: March 2008

Reading the comparative analysis of federations as different, constitutionally and culturally, as Canada, the USA, Australia, India and Nigeria, to mention only a few, is to agree with the title of this review. The words are taken from the Introduction to Bakvis and Chandler and this review argues that use of the word “surprisingly” is misplaced. Much of the writing critical of federalism has been labouring under a misunderstanding of its dynamic nature and its underlying strengths.
MARKET IDEOLOGY AND PUBLIC SECTOR EFFICIENCY: INTRODUCTION TO SYMPOSIUM ON THE MARKET AND THE STATE
Authors: Groenewegen P. D.
Published: March 2008

The four papers of which this symposium consists, together with the papers prepared by discussants, were part of a workshop organised by the Academy of Social Sciences over two days at the end of October 1989. The purpose of the workshop was to stimulate debate on this important public policy issue and to generate findings as well as point to material for further research. This introduction highlights the objectives of the workshop, its program, logistics and findings. It is regretted that one commentator was not able to present a contribution in time for inclusion in the journal. I take the opportunity in this introduction to thank the Academy of Social Sciences for sponsoring this workshop, three of its senior officers for their active participation (President, Peter Karmel; Director, Bruce Miller; and Treasurer, Stuart Harris) and the editors of the Australian Journal of Public Administration for providing this forum for the wider dissemination of the discussion it generated.
THE BEHAVIOUR OF LEGISLATORS AND BUREAUCRATS AND POLICING EXPENDITURES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND SOME EMPIRICAL RESULTS*
Authors: Doessel D. P.
Published: March 2008

Abstract:This paper is concerned with an analysis of legislation, public administration and government expenditure decisions on policing activities. These three dimensions of government can be used as mechanisms of social control. Whether they are or not is an empirical question that has to be determined in each case. It is shown that there are no strict relationships between the three dimensions of government activity: separate decision‐making is undertaken for each of the three dimensions. It is indicated that there are eight possible combinations of the three dimensions, assuming that the three dimensions of government activity are bivariate and discrete. The empirical analysis relates to the state of Queensland and it is concluded that Queensland can be described as a case consisting of authoritarian legislation, public administration contrary to the rule of law, and low policing expenditures.
THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC PROVISION
Authors: McCoy Elaine
Published: March 2008

Abstract: This work addresses the special character of public management by positing some important distinctions under‐represented in current academic literature. In exploring the primary distinction between public administration and public management, the analysis proceeds from a treatment of public management as control of a production process uniquely configured as a combination of policy brokerage and resource management, to a demonstration of the economic agency (value addition) of public managers. The paper also presents a contextual analysis of the scope and scale of the public sector as this pertains to a model of “public provision”, and introduces some new ideas regarding the temporal characteristics of public management as it responds to a discrete set of three cycles: the budget cycle, the product cycle and the policy cycle.

This work aims to provide tools for analysis which both distinguish public administration from public management and distinguish the economic agency of private managers from that of public managers. The general argument is that the “public provision process”, while similar to a conventional production process, contains unique and important responsibilities which need to be understood and defended. By the same token, public managers ought to be empowered by a knowledge and identity which express their importance as economic agents who contribute both to the commonweal and to the wealth of the nation.
THE POLITICS OF MICROECONOMIC REFORM: STRUCTURING A GENERAL MODEL1
Authors: Gerritsen Rolf
Published: March 2008

Abstract:This paper examines the current endeavours to render the Australian economy more economically efficient. While the case for microeconomic reform is clear in economic theory, Australian public policy analysts are less sanguine about the possibilities for its long‐term success. This paper seeks to develop the parameters of a simple general model to explain both why microeconomic reform proposals are dominant today on the Australian policy agenda and, more importantly, what the conditions are for their success or failure. This general model provides a framework that will allow further elaboration in case studies of particular episodes of microeconomic reform.

The paper concludes pessimistically; micro‐economic reform has been subsumed into the normal political agenda contests of Australian party politics. The pressures of such “politics” inclines Australian reforming towards incrementalism, rather than the Simon‐style rationalism implicit from micro‐economics. This mode of policy implementation will inhibit microeconomic reform in the longer term.
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE DUTIES: THE LLOYD CASE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Authors: Harman Elizabeth J.
Published: March 2008

Abstract: In its broadest sense, this paper is about public and corporate accountability in Australia. In its narrowest sense, it examines the implications for senior public officers of the trial of Tony Lloyd in Western Australia. Lloyd was convicted in 1991 of acting improperly in his capacity as a director of Western Colleries Ltd during one of the last attempted rescues of Rothwells Ltd by the state government and the Bond Corporation in 1988. He successfully appealed, not against the conviction, but against the two‐year sentence of imprisonment. The comments of the three judges of the Supreme Court are directly relevant to contemporary interpretations of the roles and relationships between business and government, and between public servants, government advisers and company directors.

The first section of the paper examines obligations and constraints imposed on individuals who have public duties, and how these are currently being interpreted in Western Australia. It refers to the uncertainties and imprecision which have developed in understandings of private and political interests, company and public duties, in both convention and the law. This discussion is the background for the detailed analysis which follows of the Lloyd case and its implications for Australian public servants.
BENCHMARKING OR THE SEARCH FOR INDUSTRY BEST‐PRACTICE: A SURVEY OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SECTOR
Authors: Frost Freerick A. , Pringle Amanda
Published: March 2008

Abstract: “The continuous process of measuring products, services, and practices against the toughest competitors or those companies recognised as industry leaders. (That is)… the search for industry best practices that will lead to superior performance” (Camp 1989. p. 10).

“Benchmarking” or the “Search for Industry Best Practices” has been accepted as a useful strategic tool. The move into the public administration arena is more recent. The underlying research in both cases is limited. The paper considers the advantage of benchmarking over business intelligence systems. Also, the government's stance on establishing quality programs and the relationships to benchmarking are considered.

The paper is based on research conducted in the public sector in Westem Australia to determine the extent to which benchmarking is used. The results indicate that whilst the concept is being embraced, the full range of benefits that could accrue is as yet not being realised. Indicators as to why this is so are outlined.
WHAT DO CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS DO? FINDINGS FROM VICTORIA
Authors: Sinclair Amanda , Bard Jeanette , Alford John
Published: March 2008

Abstract: This study explores the views of Victorian Chief Administrators (CAs) about their jobs. CAs report that the environment of administration has changed in three broad areas: greater public expectations, a breakdown of the politics‐administration dichotomy and difficulties reconciling managerial accountability with limited managerial autonomy. In response, CAs describe a distinctive pattern of concerns — with the “what”, “why” and “how” of agency operation. First, they attempt to shape the “what” or the ends and values their agency creates. Second, they act to enhance the “why” or their agency's legitimacy and the support it attracts from constituencies. Third, CAs are concerned with “how” to mobilise organisational resources, particularly by moulding culture towards the agency values they identify. These findings suggest that CAs have devised understandings of their responsibilities which conform more to theoretical conceptions of leadership than either administration or management. The research points to the emergence of a distinctive type of administrative leadership.
AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY: FOLLY STEALS A MARCH?
Authors: Stalker R.J.
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Australian policy on technology in the second half of the twentieth century is examined in the light of the contest between wisdom and folly in government. The cyclic nature of the relation between industrial evolution and technological development is traced back to the beginning of the industrial revolution, and the importance of leading technologies in those cycles is outlined. It is shown that the high technologies play the role of these leading technologies in modern industrial economies, and that governments play a dominant and fundamental role in their development. Australian governments have avoided this role, leading to relative decline in the high technology industries and consequent suppression of the normal cycle of industrial development in this country. By comparison with past follies of other governments in history, it is seen that this may be regarded as folly.
THE HEAVY ENGINEERING ADJUSTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: ORIGINS, PROCESS AND OUTCOMES
Authors: Jones Evan
Published: March 2008

Abstract: An industry‐specific plan for the heavy engineering industry was introduced by the federal Labor government in 1986. It is an important subject for several reasons. Heavy engineering is a vital industry but receives little publicity. The manner of the plan's introduction is representative of Labor's priorities in its first period of office. The plan's character was exemplary in its forward‐looking emphasis on reconstruction. Finally, the adverse bureaucratic environment in which the plan operated provides salutary lessons for cost‐efficient and workable industry policy in the future.
IDENTIFYING THE ELEMENTS IN THE AUSTRALIAN HEALTH SERVICE MANAGEMENT REVOLUTION
Authors: Braithwaite Jeffrey
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Several commentators have noted the accelerating turbulence occurring in health care at the present time. Indisputably, hospitals in Australia are going through a significant period of transition. It is argued in this paper that the magnitude of these changes will result in those organisations that we call hospitals in the future only barely resembling their counterparts in the recent past. A description of the movement to reform health care policy provides the backdrop to this discussion. This discussion of public policy initiatives broadly informs the debate and allows the major thesis of the paper to be explicated: that there is a health service management revolution occurring and it is taking place principally at the hospital level. Evidence for this view can be discerned from an analysis of four areas — organisational structure, the quality movement, changes in the management of hospitals and patients, and alterations in the way hospitals are financed. Thus, the very process of the transformation as it unfolds can be glimpsed. This paper discusses the evidence in an attempt to explain the crucial factors underpinning the revolution.
RESPONSES TO GROWTH IN THE SUN‐BELT STATE: PLANNING AND COORDINATING POLICY INITIATIVES IN QUEENSLAND
Authors: Caulfield Janice
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Queensland's population growth phenomenon has demanded responses from the state government for greater intervention in planning land use and resources utilisation. Planning, especially regional planning, represents an area of traditional policy neglect in Queensland, explained in part by the division of powers such that local authorities, rather than the state, have the major responsibility for land‐use development and physical services. Local government jurisdiction in planning poses a challenge for the state government in how best to strategically manage regional growth, while at the same time respecting local authority autonomy in planning decision‐making.

Over the last three years, the Goss government has undertaken both administrative reforms and a comprehensive and innovative planning exercise to shape urban development in south‐east Queensland, the area of greatest population density and growth. In particular, it has adopted a model of corporate government as a framework for the planning process. The corporate model promotes a “whole of government” approach to strategic planning, emphasising efficient and effective outcomes for clients. The model's client orientation has elevated and formalised the role of community input in decision‐making, and provided a process for negotiation between the players in planning policy development. In an intergovernmental environment, consultation with local authorities is important but the managerialist aspects of corporate government are likely to encourage central control of the planning policy agenda. Both are necessary for improved urban outcomes, yet it remains to be seen how these potentially conflicting processes can be reconciled in practice.
A GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST) AND THE SMALL BUSINESS SECTOR: SOME CANADIAN REFLECTIONS
Authors: Dana L.
Published: March 2008

Abstract: In recent years, several Pacific Rim nations have introduced a goods and services tax (GST), similar (in some respects) to European value‐added tax (VAT). Countries with GST include New Zealand, Western Samoa and Canada. In the 1993 Australian federal elections, a major issue was whether or not to introduce GST.

New taxes are seldom popular, but particularly in Canada the introduction of GST caused extraordinary concern in the small business sector which was faced with compliance costs exceeding $1 billion. This article is a case study of the Canadian experience, with some comparisons made with some features of other systems. Findings suggest that, in Canada, the smaller businesses which are registered for GST are burdened by an unproportional share of the burden. Managerial time of entrepreneurs is being used for increased accounting and paperwork requirements.

An understanding of GST and its difficulties may assist the small business sector in Australia and elsewhere in the Pacific Rim to be better prepared for GST‐type taxation. It may also assist the sector in voicing its concerns to government, such that the policy‐makers responsible for taxation matters may be responsive to the needs of the small business sector.
RECONCILING PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY AND ABORIGINAL SELF‐DETERMINATION/SELF‐MANAGEMENT: IS ATSIC SUCCEEDING?
Authors: Sanders Will
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Since the early 1970s commonwealth governments have been pursuing policies of self‐determination/self‐management in relation to Aborigines. In 1987, the Hawke government announced its intention to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) to further this policy goal. During the debates over ATSIC's formation, the issue of public accountability in the existing administration of Aboriginal affairs came to public prominence. The result was some extensive reworking of the ATSIC proposal, which in 1989 reemerged with a strengthened emphasis on public accountability. This article traces the events and arguments surrounding ATSIC's formation and then goes on to examine ATSIC in practice. It asks whether ATSIC is succeeding in reconciling the two imperatives of Aboriginal self‐determination/self‐management and public accountability.
CHANGING PRACTICES AND CONCEPTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE FUNCTION IN URBAN GOVERNMENT: THE GREATER BRISBANE EXPERIENCE
Authors: Tucker Doug
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Since the commencement of the Greater Brisbane scheme in 1925, a number of different ways of organising the executive function have been provided for in the legislation. These have included a mayor elected at large as chief executive officer; an appointed city manager model, which was never activated; a quasi‐cabinet model, with the mayor being elected by the council rather than at large; a “weak” collective executive committee, akin to the early 20th century “board of control” arrangements in Canada, the mayor being elected at large and standing committees of council possessing substantial policy formulation powers; a stronger collective executive in theory, alongside which something akin to the American “strong mayor with chief administrative officer” model operated in practice; a strong collective executive, with the mayor once again elected indirectly, and weak standing committees of aldermen retained; a return to something like the original mayor‐as‐CEO arrangement; and finally, a strengthened version of the initial “mayor‐as‐CEO with chief administrative officer” model. These changes are traced chronologically and a general assessment is offered in conclusion.
EXEMPT PROPRIETARY COMPANY ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS: PUBUC INTEREST OR BUREAUCRATIC EMPIRE‐BUILDING?
Authors: Dunstan Keitha , Dwyer David , Holmes Scott
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Australian small business enterprises, operated as exempt proprietary companies, are exposed to numerous statutory requirements. The Corporations Law Simplification Taskforce has proposed a number of changes with the stated objective of minimising the statutory burdens faced by small business. One of the recommendations of the taskforce is that most exempt proprietary companies be exempted from the requirement to supply key financial data in annual returns lodged with the Australian Securities Commission. This paper provides a review of the existing statutory responsibility for exempt proprietary companies to prepare annual returns including key financial data and lodge them with the ASC. A common justification offered for the introduction and continued maintenance of annual reporting requirements has been the protection of the public interest. The “public choice” theory of regulation provides alternative explanations for the regulation, including the promotion of producer interests or the promotion of the interests of the regulatory agency responsible for the administration of the legislation, the Australian Securities Commission, and other government departments such as Attorney‐General's, Finance and Treasury. The existence of alternative explanations raises the possibility that the regulation is not motivated exclusively by the public interest. Indirect evidence of the usefulness of the annual reporting requirements was gathered with a consideration of the quality of the key financial data disclosed in annual returns. More than 40% of the annual returns lodged by a sample of exempt proprietary companies, during the years 1986 to 1989, contained key financial data which was inconsistent with being extracted from a properly prepared balance sheet (where assets minus liabilities equal shareholders' equity). The possibility that the maintenance of annual reporting requirements is not in the public interest, and the limited reliability of key financial data disclosures made, offers some support for the recent recommendations of the Corporations Law Simplification Taskforce that annual reporting requirements for small business enterprises be modified.
POLICY LEARNING
Authors: Moon Jeremy
Published: March 2008

The Comparative History of Public Policy. Edited by Francis G. Castles

Trends in British Public Policy: Do Governments Make any Difference? Brian W. Hogwood

Public Policy in Britain. Martin Burch & Bruce Wood
MASLOW AND THE MODERN PUBLIC SERVANT: A LATERAL APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE AND INTEGRITY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR WORK ENVIRONMENT
Authors: Stretton Simon
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Modern public sector management faces greater challenges today than ever before. The public are requiring outcomes that exhibit efficiency, integrity and equity from all levels of the public sector, and new managerialism is trying to achieve these disparate outcomes under increasing scrutiny. Focus is increasingly upon achieving and motivating organisational vision or ethos that will enable the desired principles and other outcomes to be pursued in an otherwise less regulated public sector. This paper examines behaviour in the public sector workplace in terms of Maslow's scale of human needs, for two reasons. First, while it is only one of several theories of human motivation, it was uniquely specific about what causes people to do what they do; and second, the theory represented a prescription for the achievement of the perfect “self‐actualised” public servant for whom public duty and personal motivation became synthesised into one.
THE PRIVATISATION OF HUMAN SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA: HAS IT HAPPENED?
Authors: Lyons Mark
Published: March 2008

Abstract: The privatisation of Australia's public services has been one of the major challenges facing public administration since the early 1980s. Its enthusiastic proponents and their equally fervent opponents have generated considerable controversy. Yet its impact may have been exaggerated. A number of writers have deplored its spread in Australia's human services. Yet their evidence for privatisation does not stand scrutiny. As well, if privatisation had occurred, it would have had an impact upon the flow of public finance and that should be reflected in public finance data. An examination of that data provides almost no support for the claim that the 1980s saw significant privatisation of Australia's human services.

The current debate on privatisation … indicates a movement to return social welfare provision to sectors or systems other than government (ACOSS 1989 p.6).

The re‐emergence of the voluntary sector has been facilitated by public policies designed to transfer responsibility for welfare services from the government to the non‐government sector (Baldock 1990, p. 109).

with the more systematic transfer of services to the non‐governmental sector (Baldock 1990, p. 113).

over the past two decades … a number of functions such as service delivery and management have been transferred from the state in a way that in most terms amounts to privatisation (NCOSS 1989, p.2).

This rebirth of the non‐government sector can arguably be seen as a privatisation of the welfare state (NCOSS 1989, p.22).

Human services in New South Wales have been and continue to be the subject of a wide range of reviews intended to produce changes which fit under the general rubric of “privatisation” (Evatt Research Centre 1989, p.208).

The moves towards privatisation, if they are to continue, will have serious long term consequences (Graycar & Jamrozik 1989, p.296).
CHARTING A COURSE THROUGH THE HEALTH CARE POLICY MAZE
Authors: Braithwaite Jeffrey , Westbrook Johanna I.
Published: March 2008

Health Policy: Development, Implementation and Evaluation in Australia. By Heather GARDNER (ed.)

The Price of Health: Australian Governments and Medical Politics 1910–1960. By James A Gillespie

Federalism and Health Policy: The Development of Health Systems in Canada and Australia. By Gwendolyn Gray

The President's Health Security Plan. By White House Domestic Council

Hospitals in Transition: The Resource Management Experiment. By Tim Packwood, Justin Keen and Martin Buxton
STUDYING THE STATES
Authors: Chapman Ralph
Published: March 2008

The Bannon Decade: The Politics of Restraint in South Australia. Edited by Andrew Parkin & Allan Patience

Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and Victoria 1982–1992. Edited by Mark Considine & Brian Costar

Keeping them Honest: Democratic Reform in Queensland. Edited by Andrew Hede, Scott Prasser & Mark Neylan

The Tasmanian Parliamentary Accord & Public Policy: Accommodating the new politics? Edited by Marcus Haward & Peter Larmour

Affairs of State: Politics in the Australian States and Territories. By Scott Bennett
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES, PUBLIC SERVANTS AND DUE PROCESS
Authors: Smith Chris Selby , Corbett David
Published: March 2008

Abstract: The parliamentary system of government in its Australian form has a number of unresolved problems, notwithstanding its many virtues. One such problem is that of the role of public servants when called before parliamentary committees as witnesses. The current guidelines are mainly advice to public servants as to how they should avoid or defer questions which neither the minister nor the departmental secretary has authorised them to answer. Of course, this is useful and proper within its limits. However, it fails to address many of the dilemmas and career‐threatening choices which can face public servants who find themselves being questioned in an aggressive, hostile manner by members of a parliamentary committee.

Unfair treatment of witnesses is not a trivial matter and there are more than isolated instances. This article deals with an episode involving the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts in 1982. The case is now some years in the past, but it is still worth examining for what it teaches about gaps in our constitutional conventions.

At the end of the article we suggest action in four areas. Intensive training and retraining is needed, first in the upper ranks of the public service, and secondly for chairpersons and members of parliamentary committees. Thirdly there is a need for MAB‐MIAC to revisit yet again their guidelines on accountability and to instigate a review of the government's guidelines for public servants appearing as witnesses. Both sets of guidelines are anachronisms. Finally, we suggest that, in any future review of government policy in this area, consideration be given to the amendment of relevant legislation to bring due process and the protection of witnesses more closely into line with the rights available to persons appearing before a court.
ADVISING THE GOVERNMENT: THE FAMILY LAW COUNCIL
Authors: Hughes Bill
Published: March 2008

Abstract: The Family Law Council was established in November 1976 with the responsibility of advising the Attorney‐General on the operation of the Family Law Act 1975. This paper examines the role, membership and operation of the Family Law Council and its performance as a body providing policy advice to government. Statistical data is included on a number of matters. Although the paper draws mainly on the experience of the Family Law Council, some of the comments and suggestions made are possibly appropriate, in varying degrees, to other advisory bodies of a similar type. The paper suggests that such bodies are capable of offering inexpensive and representative advice to government and, if certain disadvantages can be overcome, more use of some existing advisory bodies may be desirable and this may even result in economies. It also suggests that there is a need to examine the whole advisory body field and that it is also desirable that the need for some ground rules for the creation and the operation of advisory bodies should be looked into.
PERFORMANCE PAY AS A COORDINATING MECHANISM IN THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE
Authors: Wood Robert
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Public sector management is in a state of flux. Pressures for greater efficiency and a stronger customer service orientation have led to changes to the structures and planning and reward systems of public sector organisations. In the milieu of reform, performance pay for managers has been given prominence in a recent critical report by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration which recommends a return to a more standardised approach to management salaries in the APS. I argue instead that performance pay should be considered as a third‐or fourth‐order coordinating mechanism and linked to the strategies of individual departments in the APS. A policy for greater decentralisation of the design, implementation and management of performance pay schemes in APS organisations is presented.
THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN REGULATORY REFORM: THE CASE OF ELS
Authors: Williams Trevor A.
Published: March 2008

Abstract:The effects of the Electronic Lodgment Service on relations between tax agents and the Australian Taxation Office provide evidence for both the value and limitations of integrating information technology innovation with regulatory reform strategy. IT innovations such as ELS can promote cooperative regulation. The limitations of this achievement are largely limitations of regulatory context and strategy.
EVERYONE'S DOING IT! CODES OF ETHICS AND NEW SOUTH WALES PARLIAMENTARIANS‘ PERCEPTIONS OF CORRUPTION
Authors: Jackson Michael , Smith Rodney
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Everyone is doing a code of ethics. But when can codes do good? To find out we interviewed New South Wales parliamentarians about their perceptions of corruption in 10 scenarios weighted from least to most corrupt. The cases were drawn from John Peters and Susan Welch's theory of corruption. We note similar studies in the United States and Canada. There is confusion about ethics, and we note that the episodes of corruption in the 1980s suggest ethical standards could be elevated. Perhaps the most significant conclusion is that parliamentarians come to think alike about corruption in the middle of their careers. Those who want to see ethics enhanced should aim at induction, education, and counselling within parliament. Here codes, if supported, have a role to play. Improvement will not be achieved by searching for a saintly parliamentarian. We found those most sensitive to corruption to be the least and most senior members.
MINISTERIAL STAFF IN AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT
Authors: Dunn Delmer D.
Published: March 2008

Abstract:This study examines the ministerial staff in Australian commonwealth government to discover what they do and how they assist ministers in achieving political control of departments. The data consist of interviews with ministers, departmental secretaries and ministerial staff. The study finds that ministerial staff offer policy advice in much the same way as found by James Walter in his study almost a decade before this one. But there does appear to be more emphasis on monitoring departmental implementation of policy and brokering positions within government than was the case in the earlier study. The study concludes that the relationship between ministers and their offices and the departmental secretaries is characterised by a conditionally cooperative approach, which is similar to that recommended by several public administration scholars.
Coordination in Youth Affairs: The Politics of Non‐Decision‐Making
Authors: Robertson Susan , Beresford Quentin
Published: March 2008

One of the components associated with the widely heralded shift to ‘new managerialism’ in the public sector has been an increased emphasis on coordination between government departments as a means to enhance effective service provision. This article examines the capacity for coordination to fulfil this objective. Drawing upon a case study of coordination in youth affairs in Western Australia, the article examines the process by which the coordination mechanisms become enveloped in the ‘politics of non‐decision‐making’. By this is meant that a set of power relationships create tensions at a number of levels — between commonwealth and state government agencies; between state government agencies and within individual agencies — which act to prevent effective decisions from being taken. The implications of this case study for the capacity of ‘new managerialism’ to produce effective policy outcomes in complex social policy areas is highlighted. Evidence from this study suggests that, in an era of restricted resources and heightened competition within the public sector, agencies are pushed to more clearly define their boundaries.
The Case Against Balanced Budgets
Authors: Robinson Marc
Published: March 2008

A proposal by the Fahey government in late 1994 to amend the NSW state Constitution so as to require ‘balanced’ budgets is one of a number of signs which suggest that the simple notion that total government expenditure should not exceed total tax revenue has gained real influence in Australia, particularly at the state level. This article explains why fiscal responsibility does not require overall budget balance. A balanced budget requirement of this type is not appropriate even if one were to make allowances for recession‐induced (‘cyclical’) deficits, and to seek to ban only ‘structural’ deficits. The reason for this is there are inherent irregularities in capital expenditure, and only through varying debt levels is it possible to reconcile reasonable stability of tax levels with stable levels of provision of public services (including services from public capital infrastructure).
Why Governments Should Produce Balance Sheets
Authors: Mellor Thuy
Published: March 2008

This contribution to a controversy argues that accrual reporting at the whole of government level is appropriate and necessary as it provides a full picture of a government's financial position, discloses the impact of policy over the longer term (and therefore the sharing of the burdens between current and future taxpayers), focuses the attention of governments and public sector managers on the management of total resources and obligations and introduces discipline in financial reporting and therefore ensuring the integrity of the reported information.

Yet, accrual reporting, whether at the whole of government level or individual agency level, will not bring about changes of behaviour necessary to realise the full benefits of financial and other management reforms unless it is complemented by an accrual planning and budgeting regime to ensure that financial performance is planned and assessed on the same basis.
Government Accrual Reports: Are They Better Than Cash?
Authors: Clark‐Lewis Michael
Published: March 2008

In assessing the usefulness of consolidated accrual reporting for governments there are grounds for both optimism and caution. Accrual reporting offers some advantages although a number of government specific issues relating to the preparation and interpretation of government accrual accounts need to be addressed. These issues include the implications of the different role of governments compared to businesses and boundary issues, such as the treatment of public pensions.

Accrual reports will not meet all our reporting needs and the limitations of the reports will need to be understood by users. Commonwealth and State treasuries are currently examining accrual reporting issues. A number of treasuries have already published consolidated accrual reports and most remaining jurisdictions are to trial the preparation of consolidated accrual reports.
The Potential for Local Diversity in Implementation of the National Competition Policy
Authors: Harman Elizabeth J , Harman Frank J
Published: March 2008

Australian governments have embarked on a major effort to improve the competitiveness of the economy by adoption of a national competition policy (NCP). The policy extends the scope of trade practices legislation to encompass the public sector and professions, modernises policy in the areas of pricing and access powers, and is intended to revitalise the microeconomic reform agenda. The intended result is an integrated national economy, more uniform and consistent business regulation across the country and improved levels of competitiveness. But, there is an inherent tension between the imperatives for harmonisation, uniformity and reduced regulation on the one hand and tendencies for local diversity and increased regulation on the other. This article explores this tension with illustrations taken from three key aspects of the policy — opportunities for institutional diversity, treatment of the public interest and the prognosis for an integrated national, competitive market. The potential for each jurisdiction in Australia to take diverse and problematic approaches to the implementation of competition policy is then re‐examined through the mechanism of a specialised case study involving the regulation of access to gas pipelines in Western Australia.
Public Administration in Troubled Waters: Organisations, Management and ‘A New Oceania’
Authors: Thynne Ian
Published: March 2008

The crux of this article is that public administration is indeed in troubled waters in terms of the threatened legitimacy of the modern state: that many of the organisational and managerial reforms of recent years have had the effect of debasing parliamentary politics by ushering in a much more definite form of executive imperialism than has ever been witnessed in previous eras. More specifically, the reforms have changed, or are changing, the configurations of power and authority in and beyond government in ways that appear to enhance neither the processes of democratic rule nor the individual and collective well‐being of many sections of society. It is thus surely time to stand back, to take stock of the situation, and to question whether the reforms are in fact achieving goals and objectives to which governments and communities ought really to be committed.
Political Management in Australia: The Case of the Northern Territory
Authors: Heatley Alistair
Published: March 2008

This article reviews the evolution of administrative arrangements in the Northern Territory since the 1970s, covering both the devolutionary phase and, with somewhat more emphasis, the self‐government period since 1978. The article centres on the theme of political management which, as in the recent work by Halligan and Power (1992), has become a major focus in the study of Australian administrative reform. Political management involves a ‘modernising reform agenda. internal in orientation and concerned mainly with making the organizational and human resources of the executive branch more responsive to the priorities of superordinates’ (Halligan and Power 1992: 249). Particular attention here is given to the evolving pattern of relationships between the political and bureaucratic arms of the Northern Territory executive.