Australia’s highly fragmented but otherwise functional healthcare system could collectively save taxpayers and the community around $6.5 billion in costs per year if it properly sweated digital technologies that have been in the process of being rolled out for the past two decades. That’s the upbeat prognosis from systemic efficiency…
The Albanese government’s unceremonious ditching of the $400 million govERP project is a welcome relief for the many agencies fretting over getting saddled with a one-size-fits-all SAP rollout for their corporate services systems. But there’s a potentially bumpy road ahead for organisations that will now have to look at upgrade…
“I personally know very well what it means to be the person who is the villain of the week, or the month or the year. Frankly, it was over a year for me. I still am sometimes mentioned on Fox News, and every time I am, it drives a huge…
So far, the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme is all about the Australian Public Service, as you would expect since the Federal Court described the matter in June as a “massive failure of public administration” and a “shameful chapter” in Australia’s social security history. The former ministers — principally…
Key executives in the Department of Social Services were told of fundamental legal and operational problems inherent in how an ambitious payments-integrity program was being designed as early as 2014, the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme has heard from a key witness. In a day marked by protracted delays…
Scott Hamilton and Stuart Kells caught up with Shane Rattenbury for his insights on climate change, energy policy, bipartisanship and tri-partisanship. Having worked for Greenpeace for about a decade, Shane Rattenbury found himself as a Greens member in the ACT parliament – and holding the balance of power. A shared…
Moonee Valley council’s ‘Mamma’s Kitchen’ is giving East African women the chance to use their cooking skills in paid work, and it’s helping to build confidence and experience. “It’s hard for us to get a job,” explains Fahan Ahmed. Ahmed is one of the 14 or so women — all…
Reputation can’t be left to the comms team, argues Michelle Bryne, head of strategic communications at the Victorian Essential Services Commission. Remember that every interaction with stakeholders impacts their view, and rethink those hundred-page reports. Does having a good reputation matter for a regulator? Michelle Bryne That’s the question Michelle…
Homeless hotel programs have given many the security to make positive changes in their lives. Victoria hopes to make these changes permanent. Governments’ lightning-fast responses to the pandemic have shown that many apparently intractable policy problems are in fact failures of will. Homelessness is one of those. Faced with a…
Some of the changes forced onto Victoria’s prison system by the pandemic have led to better services that will endure into the future, says Corrections Victoria Acting Commissioner Larissa Strong. Advocates hope the experience will lead to deeper shifts. Statistics from the United States make clear just how much of…
The UK government has done a terrible job of managing the pandemic. Clearer strategic direction and improved relationships between advisors and ministers could have helped. The United Kingdom has now passed 100,000 deaths in the coronavirus pandemic, the first country in Europe to do so. The UK currently has the…
In a year of unprecedented calamity and tumult, it has been gratifying to see the Commonwealth public service deliver first class service to so many Australians through the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has tested our resolve like few other crises, with the Commonwealth leading the way in ensuring the public has…
Between 2020 and 2030 an estimated 550,000 Australians are projected to die from cancer. So far this year, over 25,000 people have lost their lives to the disease, with that number projected to reach 63,000 in 2030¹. In addition, studies show that patients in regional Australia are up to 35%…
The Victorian government’s response to the pandemic is not the first time issues such as failures in leadership, communication breakdowns between public servants and ministers have surfaced in the wake of botched programs or disasters. Recent history proves illuminating. Victoria’s inquiry into hotel quarantine and the response to the coronavirus…
Applying the lessons of Black Saturday around communication and coordination helped authorities protect communities during last summer’s terrible bushfires. One of the remarkable things about the 2020-21 bushfires is that, despite burning an area far larger than those of Black Saturday, they also led to a much smaller number of…