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Contemporary Government Challenges launch

Thursday 25 October 2007

Introduction

Good afternoon.  I would like to begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people and their ancestors as the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting today.

I am pleased to welcome you to the launch of the new series of publications the Commission has developed focusing on Contemporary Government Challenges.

A key responsibility of public service leaders is to ensure that sound governance policies and practices are embedded in our organisations; that the performance of our organisations is continually monitored and improved; and that issues and challenges are tackled head on.

Australia operates in a highly competitive global market.  We are about 8th in the OECD rankings of the most prosperous countries in terms of GDP per capita.  The Australian Public Service has contributed to our national position by investing heavily in improving its performance.  This has provided enormous benefits to Australia and increased the effectiveness of government.  We are widely recognised as one of the best public services in the world, and we should be rightly proud of our achievements.

We can’t rest on our laurels.  We have had some serious agency performance lapses, which have affected our reputation and perceptions of the quality of our agencies, their ability to manage in a rapidly changing environment, and their effectiveness.  These lapses remind us of the importance of taking a rigorous approach to overcoming challenges and shortfalls, and managing risk.  And, they remind us that a public service is only as good as its willingness and capability to plan and implement its next reform steps.  To stay in front we need to be working together on reform directions and challenging each other to do better.

That’s why we have put together some of the new thinking on public sector management reforms and approaches to handling contemporary problems. 

The Contemporary Government Challenges series identifies some of the common challenges being faced by public service agencies, and proposes some strategies to overcome these challenges.  And, this is just the start—we see the Commission preparing a range of think pieces on current government challenges over the next few years, including a new piece on devolved government arrangements next month.

We are also planning to organise events and programmes next year around the theme of Contemporary Government Challenges for Executive Level and Senior Executive Service staff.

This series had its conception in work the Commission has done over recent years in endeavouring to assist APS agencies to:

• improve governance arrangements,
• monitor and assess the health (or otherwise) of their agency
• deal with very complex policy problems—sometimes referred to as ‘wicked’ problems, and
• achieve sustained behavioural change in their organisation.

Each of the four publications launched today takes an active, achievable approach to assist agencies with some of the fundamentals.

Firstly, Building Better Governance.

The governance paper was developed following a series of discussions held late last year with APS departmental executives, who were overwhelmingly in favour of hearing ‘stories’ or case studies which illustrated in a very practical way what other agencies were doing to improve their practices and approaches to governance.  We were conscious that there was some very good material already out there—in particular the ANAO’s Public Sector Governance Better Practice Guide—and that we should draw from that material rather than duplicate it.

The resultant publication contains thirteen case studies developed in conjunction with APS agencies.  I’d like to take the opportunity now to thank each and every one of you who contributed time and effort in bringing these case studies to fruition.

A number of common themes emerged from the development of the case studies, and these became the seven ‘building blocks’ to better governance that are outlined in the document. 

One of these key building blocks is the need to have in place appropriate governance committee structures, and a number of the case studies are centred around ensuring that this happens.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship provides insights into how and why it set up its committee structure – which includes a Values and Standards Committee specifically charged with addressing key findings of the Palmer and Comrie reports.  The case study details the operation of the Committee, including some of its challenges and outcomes.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources gave us access to the results of a thorough audit of its governance arrangements, including its committee structure, which was undertaken by an external firm earlier this year.  That case study provides valuable insights into the types of things to look for when reviewing governance arrangements, in particular the roles and responsibilities of committees and the need to review committee charters regularly.

The case studies also clearly show that agencies see a well-structured programme of risk management as an essential component of good governance. We have included examples of this throughout the publication, and the online version will be refreshed from time to time as new case studies emerge.  I encourage you to regularly check our website.

The other building blocks to better governance in the paper are:

• strong leadership, culture and communication,
• clear accountability mechanisms,
• working effectively across organisational boundaries,
• comprehensive risk management, compliance and assurance systems,
• strategic planning, performance monitoring and evaluation, and
• flexible and evolving principles-based systems.

An underlying theme of the paper is that good governance is a duty for us all—for everyone in each agency—and that the more actively engaged we all are in our agency, the stronger it will be.

The building blocks are what we hope will become the “shoulds” of good Australian public service governance.

Moving now to the second new publication, Agency Health—Monitoring Agency Health and Improving Performance. 

The focus of this paper is to assist agencies monitor their corporate health. ‘Corporate health’ is the broad spectrum of agency governance issues - such as organisational direction, leadership, organisational capability, corporate governance processes, relationships and integrity, and agency culture.   

The importance of monitoring these governance issues will be clear to all of us. High levels of corporate health are linked directly to high levels of overall performance that allow agencies to deliver their goals, realise their mission, and deliver the outcomes required by the Government.  Conversely, poor corporate health can lay the foundations for poor performance or organisational failure.  By paying close attention to corporate health, agencies can identify and address early warning signs of poor performance well before they start to affect the achievement of outcomes.

The Agency Health paper takes a practical approach.  It includes a two-part health checklist for agencies use.  The first checklist is comprised of corporate health indicators for agencies that perform well, and the second is corporate health indicators associated with agencies at risk of poor performance.  Case studies are used to illustrate key points. 

The main things to look out for in terms of agency dysfunction are:

• shortcomings in organisational direction
• poor leadership
• organisational capability shortcomings
• ineffective corporate governance processes
• difficult relationships and integrity issues
• shortcomings in organisational culture

This paper is the first attempt to deal with public sector agency corporate health in a rigorous way in Australia, and to our knowledge there have been few other attempts to deal with this issue systematically anywhere in the world.  I urge you all to use the Commission’s Agency Health publication to assist your agency to put a stronger focus on corporate health and to identify any corporate health issues well before they affect agency performance and make the tabloids.

The third publication I am launching today is Tackling Wicked Problems—A Public Policy Perspective.

This paper recognises that the APS is increasingly being tasked with dealing with very complex and tough policy problems.  Some of these problems are so complex they have been called ‘wicked’ problems.  We use the term wicked not in the sense of evil, but rather as tough issues highly resistant to resolution.

You would be well aware of the types of issues I am talking about.  High profile examples include climate change, ongoing indigenous disadvantage and land degradation.

Our intention is that this paper will stimulate debate around what is needed to successfully tackle wicked problems.  It is not intended to provide all the answers.  In fact, providing all the answers would be impossible in any case, such is the nature of wicked problems.

The paper makes the point that it is important, as a first step, that wicked problems be recognised as such. 

How do we know when we are dealing with a wicked problem?  I’ll quickly outline a few of their key characteristics which I am sure will resonate with you.

Wicked problems usually do not have clear solutions. Solutions are often not verifiably ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but rather ‘better’ or ‘worse’ or ‘good enough’.  In some cases, such as the challenge of illicit drug use, the problem may never be completely solved.  To pursue approaches based on ‘solving’ such problems may cause policy makers to act on unwarranted and unsafe assumptions and create unrealistic expectations.  In such cases, it is more useful to consider how such problems can be managed ‘best’.

Wicked problems hardly ever sit conveniently within the responsibility of any one organisation or jurisdiction.  Instead, they reinforce the vital importance of being able to work in a whole of government way, and tax our abilities to engage and work co-operatively with a range of stakeholders.

Attempts to address wicked problems often lead to unforeseen consequences, due to their complexity.  One example is what apparently happened when unhealthy food was removed from some school canteens as a measure to tackle the growth in childhood obesity.  Some children reacted by no longer buying their lunch at school canteens but instead missed lunch, saved their lunch money and bought junk food at the shops on the way home from school.  So, an unintended consequence was that some children ate more unhealthy food than they previously did and they missed their lunch resulting in poorer concentration in class!

The paper on tackling wicked problems discusses a range of approaches that can assist in dealing with these problems.  Successfully solving or at least managing wicked problems requires a reassessment of some of the traditional public service ways of working and solving problems.  They challenge our governance structures, our skills base and our organisational capacity.

One essential ingredient is a broad recognition and understanding, including from governments and Ministers, that there are no quick fixes and simple solutions.  We simply won’t solve Indigenous disadvantage overnight, but by working together on it, we have more of a chance to at least alleviate it.

The last characteristic of wicked problems that I want to mention is that tackling them nearly always involves changing behaviour.  This is clearly the case in dealing with climate change, obesity, illegal drug use, Indigenous disadvantage and land degradation.

And, it leads me to the final of the four publications being launched today—Changing Behaviour—A Public Policy Perspective.

This paper deals with the challenge of how democratic governments can most effectively influence the behaviour of their citizens.  

The role of regulating or influencing behaviour is, of course, not a new one for governments—they have long used a range of traditional tools, including legislation, sanctions, regulations, taxes and subsidies, and the provision of public services and information to modify behaviour in the public interest.

What makes the current environment more challenging is the growing number of policy problems where influencing human behaviour is very complex.  As well, the effectiveness of traditional approaches may be limited without some additional tools and understanding of how to engage citizens in cooperative behavioural change.

Interventions informed by behavioural theory and evidence can be very much more cost-effective than traditional approaches to policy and service delivery in some areas.  For example, research has demonstrated that smoking cessation programmes deliver around ten times more quality-adjusted life years per dollar than expenditure on drugs to reduce cholesterol over a 20-year time frame.

A major conclusion of the paper on changing behaviour is that adopting a comprehensive approach to behavioural change is more effective than an ad hoc approach.  While piecemeal action can have some impact, it is significantly more limited than a carefully planned, comprehensive, long-term approach.

Experience with tobacco control, for example through the National Tobacco Strategy, illustrates that the effectiveness of a comprehensive package to behavioural change is generally significantly greater than the sum of its parts. Our thanks to the Department of Health and Ageing for that case study.

The National Tobacco Strategy and the other case study used to inform this paper, the National Landcare Programme (our thanks also to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) both illustrate another general point about behavioural change—many approaches to influencing public behaviour are only effective if sustained over time.

Approaches also need to evolve as community attitudes and behaviours change over time.  As smoking has become the habit of a smaller and smaller minority, new options have opened up for policy makers.  The recent move in a number of Australian States and Territories to ban smoking in all areas of public clubs, hotels and restaurants, for instance, would have been unacceptable ten years ago.

Achieving sustained behavioural change can be difficult.  The APS is learning from the different theories and empirical evidence on behavioural change and, on a case-by-case basis, from trialling different models for different situations. Learning from other agencies’ experiences, including from agencies in other democratic countries, is a good way of developing successful approaches to behavioural change.  This publication on changing behaviour will help government and public servants make the best choices.

Conclusion

It gives me very great pleasure to launch the first four publications in the Contemporary Government Challenges series.

I would like now to offer my thanks to the project teams in the Commission who produced these publications – especially Kathie Potts, Linda Kendell, and Caroline Davidson, and to the many staff in your own organisations who contributed with case studies and ideas.  I would also like to thank Lynne Tacy, the Deputy Public Service Commissioner, for her work in bringing together this series.

Other speakers

Mr Ian Mc Phee

(speech)

Mr McPhee has been the Auditor-General of Australia since March 2005 and has a longstanding interest in improving the governance of APS organisations.

Mr Andrew Metcalfe

(speech)

Mr Andrew Metcalfe has been Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship since July 2005 and in this role has achieved major cultural, governance and accountability improvements in that department. He is well qualified to talk about strategies to monitor and improve the performance and corporate health of an organisation.

Dr Conall O’Connell

(speech)

Dr Conall O’Connell has been Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry since May this year.  That department’s National Landcare Programme featured as a case study in two of the new publications and Dr O’Connell will speak to us about dealing with intractable issues such as land management.

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