I was struck by the three panel discussions on day one. In three different rooms and by 13 different people we heard a number of key tenets underlined time and again. Dr. Janet Smith's panel made it clear that working across the entire horizon of government can no longer be considered wishful thinking. Similarly when David Zussman's group urged a continued shift from crisis based policy initiatives to collaborative long-range thinking I could see heads nodding in agreement. When we heard Gary Webster's panel weigh and compare achievements and results in the wake of downsizing in governments it became obvious that no longer can the public sector become entangled in process.
Results are what matters.
That is why we are moving from a rules based public sector to one that is values based and why the phrase budget cuts is being replaced with the term value for money . The panels today had a definite human element. Whether it was Peter Harrison and his group on La Rel ve or Kathy O'Hara's team advising the merits of gavel to gavel citizen participation it became clear that our attempts to move from monopolies to partnerships and from transactions to strategic frameworks is the right direction. And that is where we have to be .