20th Year Anniversary
Edition #45
Happy New Year and welcome to the first Bridge for 2022. I hope you had a refreshing and relaxing break and are ready for another year. Public management and policy is an ever-changing field. We’ll continue to provide you with the latest research that’s relevant to your work including cutting edge Research Briefs. These will bring you the best academic articles on public administration and policy. As always if you have a research paper, journal article or report you'd like to add to my Bridge reading pile, send it to me at M.Katsonis@anzsog.edu.au
This issue:
- judging success in policy pilots
- evidence based policy (or not)
- dealing with distrust in politics
- rethinking technology policy
- health spending and the pandemic
Plus what I’m reading.
Piloting policy initiatives before a wider rollout is increasingly commonplace. Research has shown pilots have multiple shifting purposes and judging the success of policy pilots is consequently complex. A paper in Public Administration:
- outlines a framework against which policy success can be assessed
- considers the implications of the framework for evaluating policy pilots.
For the fourth year running, research from the Evidence Based Policy Project found federal and state governments are only loosely following basic standards of evidence and consultation-based policy making.
The study involved two philosophically opposed think tanks - Per Capita and the Institute for Public Affairs - analysing the same 20 federal and state government policies. The case study that most approximated a good policy making process was the Federal Corporate Insolvency Bill. The one that rated lowest was the Victorian Constitutional Fracking Ban Bill. In twelve of the case studies, the two think tanks gave the same or similar score. In five case studies the scoring difference between the think tanks was two points.
Each think tank separately benchmarked the policies against the ten criteria of the Wiltshire test for public policy. The Wiltshire criteria focus on good process, not results, because the net fiscal, social, economic and environmental impact of a policy may not be known for some time.
What are the Wiltshire criteria?
The criteria are outlined in detail in this paper. In summary:
- establish need
- set objectives
- identify options:
- consider mechanisms
- brainstorm alternatives
- design pathway
- consult further
- publish proposals
- introduce legislation
- communicate decisions.
Read IPA’s report.
Read Per Capita’s report.
Liberal democracy across the West is under strain. The causes of these democratic challenges are complex but there is a common thread: a decline in political trust. A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research argues that policymakers must act on four significant social and political gaps to arrest the decline in trust.
Why is growing distrust a concern?
A lack of trust matters for two reasons:
- Growing distrust can lead to a downwards spiral of democratic decline. Voters can become disengaged, polarised or turn to populist leaders and causes.
- It matters for social progress. A lack of trust undermines the ability of government to intervene and deliver better policy outcomes.
What determines trust?
Trust is determined by two sets of factors:
- The performance of government. The evidence is clear that economic growth and stability, inequality, and the quality of public services are all vital in determining trust.
- The processes of government and how decisions that govern society are made. This includes type of electoral system used, the degree to which people see themselves represented, and perceived levels of political corruption all matter.
What can be done to rebuild trust?
The report outlines four major challenge areas for policymakers to focus on, to improve political trust based around the social and political gaps:
- Between the lives people expected to lead and the lives people are experiencing.
- Between the scale of the social challenges we face and the (perceived) ability of government to deliver against them.
- Between the principles of liberal democracy and the reality of our political system as it manifests today.
- Between the values and experiences of citizens and those who govern on their behalf.
Emerging technologies are shifting market power and a paper from the Brookings Institution argues current approaches to governing technology are insufficient and fragmented.
The power of the technology sector
The impact of the tech sector is just not confined to economic power. The sector’s ability to harness the power and scalability of digital distribution, advanced analytics and lean production methods has delivered social and political influence. Rising revenue and profits enables further growth through acquisitions. This creates a reinforcing relationship between economic, political, and social power.
What should technology policy seek to govern?
- National security: Ensure the physical safety of citizens and the integrity of critical infrastructure and communication networks, especially in relation to cybersecurity and terrorism.
- Economic development: This encompasses taxation, employment rights, competition policy and intellectual property.
- Infrastructure: Ensure that digital infrastructure is effectively developed and maintained to meet the needs of citizens and the economy.
- Privacy and data management: This covers privacy rights and regulations, data storage and open data initiatives.
- Social cohesion: This includes limiting extremist content, managing misinformation, combating threats to democracy and limiting hate speech.
According to a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare spending on health goods and services grew by 1.8 per cent to $202.5 billion during the 2019–20 financial year. This equated to an additional $3.5 billion and included the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
At a glance
- The spending increase was primarily on public hospitals with an additional $3 billion.
- In the first year of COVID-19, health spending increased at a greater rate (3.7 per cent) than GDP (1.7 per cent).
- During 2019–20, spending on health by all governments was $142.6 billion, which represented 26.3 per cent of government tax revenue. This was an increase from 2018–19, where the health spending to tax revenue ratio was 24.2 per cent.
- Of total health spending in 2019–20, more than half was spent in New South Wales ($62.5 billion) and Victoria ($51.0 billion) combined. These states also represented more than half (around 58 per cent) of the Australian population.
- Average per capita health spending was similar across all states and territories, except for the Northern Territory where average spending was $10,878 per person, compared with the national average of $7,926.
What I'm reading
1. How to make a difficult decision
It’s tempting but unwise to delay difficult decisions. Decisions are complex, not necessarily because the choice between two
options is complex, but because human beings are complex. What defines a hard decision isn’t so much the decision itself but how it is perceived by the decision maker. This guide from Psyche outlines a range of tools and techniques to accelerate and improve your decision-making.
Read More
2. The Beatles and the art of teamwork
Get Back is a new documentary which charts the days The Beatles spent together in January 1969, writing and recording songs for a new album. According to The Economist, it is essential viewing for managers as it is a rare chance to
watch a world-class team at work.
Read More
‘Til the next issue
Maria Katsonis
Maria curates The Bridge. She is a Public Policy Fellow at the University of Melbourne and a former senior Victorian public servant with 20 years’ experience. She has a deep understanding of public policy and public management and brings a practitioner’s perspective to the academic.
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