This issue

– policy labs - the next frontier
– COVID-19 and public sector capacity
– enabling community led change
– Australian bushfire and climate plan
– the costs of COVID-19
Plus what I'm reading.

Research brief: Policy labs – the next frontier? ​

A paper in Policy & Politics explores the potential benefits of policy labs. It analyses 20 leading labs from five continents, including Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand, to assess the role they can play in the design and implementation of public policy. Read our brief on the paper.

COVID-19 and public sector capacity ​

Public sector capacity to lead during a pandemic is the subject of a paper from Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy. COVID-19 presents a major challenge to governments world-wide—from the provision of income support to citizens and aid to struggling companies, to the strengthening of frontline health services. The crisis has underlined the importance of public sector capacity and capabilities.

What is public sector capacity?

Public sector capacity is defined as the set of skills, capabilities and resources necessary to perform policy functions—from the provision of public services to policy design and implementation.

During pandemics, governments must respond to emergencies by organising rapid responses and mobilising resources. Effective governance requires capacities and capabilities for both agility and resilience. The contrasting trajectories of the COVID-19 response in the USA and UK, and countries such as Germany, New Zealand, Vietnam or South Korea point to key lessons for the future.

Instead of retreating to the role of being at best a market fixer and at worst an outsourcer, governments should invest in building their muscle in critical areas. The paper argues the following key capacities and dynamic capabilities must be developed and nurtured within public-sector organisations:

1. capacity to adapt and learn 
2. capacity to align public services and citizen needs 
3. capacity to govern resilient production systems 
4. capacity to govern data and digital platforms. 

Shaping the future – enabling community led change  ​

This report from Inspiring Communities, a non-profit organisation in Aotearoa-New Zealand, documents insights and recommendations drawn from nearly 70 interviews undertaken in May and June 2020 about the COVID-19 lockdown. The aim was to find out as much as possible about local rāhui (lockdown) experience.

From these conversations it was clear that collaborative, locally led action was a key factor that ensured the hauora (health and wellbeing) of the population during the rāhui. Continuing the new practices and mindsets that emerged during the crisis will help embed positive change.

This includes: 

• respect for the ability of hapū, iwi and local communities to deliver 

• enhanced mobilisation and coordination of locally led planning and resources 

• high trust models of funding from central and local government, business and philanthropy which enabled community responses. 

Building community resilience is also integral through: 

• devolving funding and power to hapū and local communities 

• recognising and respecting difference 

• valuing people and relationships 

• embedding collaboration. 

The Australian bushfire and climate plan is the outcome of a virtual summit hosted by the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. This is a group of 33 former Australian fire and emergency service leaders from every state and territory.

The summit brought together participants across the country to formulate recommendations addressing the worsening risk of bushfires fuelled by climate change. Participants included current emergency leaders, Indigenous fire practitioners, health professionals, farmers, community leaders, social service providers, economists, local mayors, climate scientists and bushfire survivors.

Response recommendations include: 

• Better resource fire and land management agencies to manage fuels, and rapidly detect and attack new outbreaks. 
• Add a self-sufficient Australian medium and large aerial firefighting capability to fire services. 
• Better utilise Australian Defence Force support capabilities in emergencies. 

Readiness recommendations include: 

• Create an Indigenous-led National Cultural Fire Strategy to complement and inform fuel management by agencies. 
• Increase the affordability and uptake of insurance for properties in disaster prone areas, a key factor in community resilience. 
• Review and update Australian building standards in bushfire-prone areas. 

Recovery recommendations include: 

• Set up a national climate disaster fund to meet climate-fuelled disaster costs and build resilience. 

• Better coordinate and resource wildlife recovery efforts. 

• Develop and implement a national climate change, health and well-being strategy. 

The costs of COVID: Australia’s economic prospects in a wounded world ​

Australia is emerging from the pandemic sooner and at less economic cost than widely expected, but with higher unemployment and elevated debt. Despite a COVID-constrained global economy, an article from the Lowy Institute argues meeting the fiscal challenge is within Australia's means.

While unemployment will be the principal domestic problem, the changing global context will also shape the Australian economy. On IMF forecasts, the economic contraction in the United States, the whole of the Euro area, the United Kingdom and Canada will be twice that of Australia.

The impact for Australia of lower global demand and production is mitigated because three-quarters of exports are to East Asia, a region that is growing faster than Europe or the United States.

Because the East Asian economy will perform much better than Europe or North America, Australia’s economic integration into the region will likely increase because of the pandemic.  At the same time, the pandemic has corresponded with a further deterioration in Australia’s engagement with China. This discord could have a far greater impact on Australian security and prosperity than COVID-19. 

Though formidable, the fiscal challenge is within Australia’s means, especially if the Reserve Bank remains willing to acquire and hold Australian government debt.  

1. How to make rational decisions in the face of uncertainty 

An article in Harvard Business Review looks at decision making processes during heightened uncertainty and how to manage decision paralysis. Being aware of uncertainty is a necessary precursor to managing it. Effective awareness means pausing, taking a strategic stop, and assessing the situation and the unknowns. Even when knowledge is limited, there are still tools to help make decisions systematically and analytically. The article proposes a four-step process to work with and through ambiguity to make careful, reasoned decisions.

2. Reconciliation and the promise of an Australian homecoming 

An essay by Megan Davis in The Monthly discusses Acknowledgement of Country and the addition of “emerging leaders” or “emerging elders” alongside elders past and present. She argues many view the “emerging leader” coda as a contrivance and unwelcome addition. “It is one thing to have an “acknowledgement” that property rights were taken away; it is another for the rights-depriver to add things, unsolicited and unilaterally, to the acknowledgement formula, further weakening our culture and strengthening their own.”

‘Til the next issue

Maria Katsonis