Chapter 11: Working with the Australian community

Abbreviations

A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary

Key chapter findings

Delivering services to the public remains one of the key forms of interaction and engagement with the Australian community, and is an area where the APS appears to perform well. Generally, employees involved in service delivery reported high levels of satisfaction and capability. They were very positive about the impact of their workplace practices on service delivery, including in relation to the professionalism of employees involved in service delivery, and the degree to which confidentiality is taken seriously. In addition, most believe employees in their workplace are committed to providing excellent customer service and there has also been an improvement in employee perceptions about coordination between agencies.

Agencies are focusing on the use of mechanisms to measure agency performance. In the area of service delivery there has been an increased use of service standards and performance indicators to measure the quality of services provided to the public. There has also been widespread use of feedback mechanisms, and information collected through these mechanisms feeds directly into the improvement of service delivery. The increasing uptake of e-government and high overall satisfaction levels among users is another positive indicator.

Agencies’ overall commitment to the provision of quality services appears to be paying off. A range of key service delivery agencies report high levels of service user satisfaction.

Not surprisingly, however, there are still areas where the APS needs to improve. Information provided by the Ombudsman suggests that agencies need to focus on improving the quality and the transparency of their decisions, including through better record keeping. AGIMO has also pointed to the need to ensure that an increasing reliance on e-government does not reduce access to services for some groups in the community.

Consultation in the making of policy and programme decisions continues to be widespread among APS agencies and, in a positive development, has become more widespread in the area of government regulation. Nevertheless, there is the potential for agencies to increase the extent to which they consult directly with the public in a targeted way.

Reflecting the trend to ‘distributed government’, whether it be through outsourced service provision or partnering agreements, APS employees report widespread interaction with external stakeholders. Most dealings currently are by way of consultation or contract management rather than active partnership.

Agencies have a range of protocols and policies in place for dealing with external stakeholders, although there is potential for agencies to develop more protocols and policies around the protection of citizens’ interests. That said, employees were generally very positive about the way relations with stakeholders were handled in their agencies, including in relation to the protection of citizens’ interests.

In Australia and internationally, governments are increasingly looking at ways in which working more directly with the community can contribute to better policy and programme outcomes. Engaging the community comprehends a range of approaches and has the potential not only to provide governments with access to broader perspectives and potential solutions, but to influence community behaviour. Nevertheless, it needs to be undertaken in a strategic way, at appropriate points in the policy cycle, and in areas where it has been identified as having the potential to add value.

Of course, for some agencies engaging in this way is a new form of operating and brings with it a range of governance and capability challenges. Nevertheless, it is increasingly likely that active participation and engagement of citizens will be needed in areas such as employment, health, crime, education, environment, transport and the economy. This aspect of working with the Australian community will be examined in more detail by the Commission over the next year.

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