New Accountabilities, New Challenges
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New Accountabilities, New Challenges New Accountabilities, New Challenges Edited by John Wanna, Evert A. Lindquist and Penelope Marshall Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Wanna, John, author. Title: New accountabilities, new challenges / John Wanna, Evert A. Lindquist and Penelope Marshall. ISBN: 9781925022070 (paperback) 9781925022087 (ebook) Subjects: Government accountability. Politics, Practical. Public administration. Other Authors/Contributors: Lindquist, Evert A., author. Marshall, Penelope, author. Dewey Number: 321.8 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2015 ANU Press Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms . .vii Foreword . ix Contributors . xi 1 . Introduction — Embracing New Accountabilities, Confronting New Challenges: Canvassing options for next generation improvements . 1 John Wanna Part I. Systemic Accountabilities 2 . Restoring Trust in Government . 17 Chris Eccles 3 . Parliamentary Scrutiny of the Australian Public Service . 29 Derek Drinkwater 4 . Assessing Access to Information in Australia: The impact of freedom of information laws on the scrutiny and operation of the Commonwealth government . 79 Daniel Stewart 5 . Through a Glass Darkly: The vicissitudes of budgetary reform in Australia . 159 John Wanna 6 . Constrained Parliamentarism: Australia and New Zealand compared . 189 Harshan Kumarasingham and John Power Part II. Policy Processes 7 . Is Implementation Only About Policy Execution?: Advice for public sector leaders from the literature . 209 Evert Lindquist and John Wanna 8 . National Competition Policy and Cooperative Federalism . 243 Jeffrey Harwood and John Phillimore 9 . The Malfunctions of New Public Management: A case study of governance in Indigenous affairs . 265 Ian Marsh 10. Australian Sub-National Compacts with the Not-For-Profit Sector: Pathways to cross-sector cooperation . 297 John Butcher 11 . Championing Change in a Highly Contested Policy Area: The literacy reforms of David Kemp, 1996–2001 . 343 Wendy Jarvie and Trish Mercer 12 . Cross-Jurisdictional Performance Audits: Impacts and options for the Australian National Audit Office . 369 Patricia Gerald List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AAT Administrative Appeals Tribunal ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ACCC Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACER Australian Council for Educational Research ACT Australian Capital Territory ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions ADJR Act Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) AEU Australian Education Union ALP Australian Labor Party ALRC Australian Law Reform Commission ANAO Australian National Audit Office ANZSOG Australia and New Zealand School of Government APS Australian Public Service APSC Australian Public Service Commission ARC Administrative Review Council CDEP Community Development Employment Project CGovC Compact Governance Committee CGrC Commonwealth Grants Commission CJPA cross-jurisdictional performance audit COAG Council of Australian Governments DEETYA Department of Employent, Education, Training and Youth Affairs DES Department of Education and Science DETYA Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs DEWR Department of Employment and Workplace Relations DHHS Department of Health and Human Services FaCSIA Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs ERC Expenditure Review Committee EU European Union FOI freedom of information FPP first past the post GAO Government Accountability Office GBE Government Business Enterprise GDP gross domestic product GST Goods and Services Tax ICC Indigenous Coordinating Centre ICCS Institute for Citizen-Centred Service vii New Accountabilities, New Challenges IGA intergovernmental agreement IMF International Monetary Fund INTOSAI International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions IPS Information Publication Scheme ITARI integrity, transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and inclusiveness JCPAA Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit LNP Liberal‒National Party MCEETYA Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs MFP multifactor productivity MMP mixed member proportional MoU Matter of Urgency MP Member of Parliament MPI Matter of Public Importance MTEF medium-term economic framework MYEFO Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook NAO National Audit Office NBN National Broadband Network NCC National Competition Council NCP National Competition Policy NFP not-for-profit NGO non-governmental organisation NPM new public management NPP National Partnership Payment NSW New South Wales NT Northern Territory NTER Northern Territory Emergency Response OAIC Office of the Australian Information Commissioner OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development PBS Portfolio Budget Statement SA South Australia SPP Specific Purpose Payment SAI supreme audit institution WA Western Australia viii Foreword This present collection of essays and research reports by 14 academic commentators and senior practitioners brings together a diverse set of contributors unified in the belief that reform initiatives are imperative for better government and public policy. All these contributions have connections with ANZSOG — the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, established in 2002–03 as an innovative collaboration between the Australian and New Zealand governments and a range of prestigious universities across both countries. Some of the essays were commissioned research papers by experts in the field on topics of multi-jurisdictional concern, others were research papers in which ANZSOG played a role and that were subsequently presented to ANZSOG for publication, and others were first given as keynote speeches at public events hosted by ANZSOG or involving ANZSOG staff members. Of the 14 contributors, eight are academics by profession (at various stages, five have been members of ANZSOG faculty), and six are senior executives with wide-ranging government experience. They each approach their topic with critical engagement, providing constructive suggestions and recommendations for future reform. This title, New Accountabilities, New Challenges, is the latest in the ANU Press/ ANZSOG series which now runs to over 40 titles covering diverse areas of public policy and administration. (ANZSOG also publishes web-based occasional papers, often with jurisdictional partners.) It is the fourth collection of essays ANU Press and ANZSOG have published since the series began in 2006. The first wasA Passion of Policy: Essays in public sector reform (2007), the second Improving Implementation: Organisational change and project management (2007), and the third was Critical Reflections on Australian Public Policy: Selected essays (2009). Each of these previous collections has been well received and consistently attracted high downloads. I am sure that this collection will not disappoint readers, and feel confident that it will surpass the take-up and dissemination accorded to the earlier collections. I commend the volume of essays to our stakeholders and readers and look forward to the debates it will undoubtedly stimulate. Professor John Wanna Sir John Bunting Chair in Public Administration, RSSS, ANU, and National Director of Research, ANZSOG ix Contributors John Wanna holds the Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration at the Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University and is Director of Research for the Australian and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). Chris Eccles was appointed Secretary of the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet in December 2014. He previously held the positions of Director General, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet (2011–2014) and Chief Executive, South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet (2009–2011). Prior to this, he worked in a variety of government and private sector senior management positions. Derek Drinkwater holds a BA with First Class Honours in government from the University of Queensland and a PhD in political science and international relations from The Australian National University. He worked for 20 years in the Department of the Senate and for a decade as a public administration adviser at the Australian Public Service Commission. His publications include Sir Harold Nicolson and International Relations: The practitioner as theorist (Oxford University Press, 2005) and The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate: 1901–1929 (Melbourne University Press, 2000) of which he was assistant editor. He has also contributed to The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Daniel Stewart is a senior lecturer at the ANU College of Law, The Australian National University and a consultant to Sparke Helmore Lawyers. He was a National Undergraduate Scholar and received First Class Honours degrees in economics and law from The Australian National University. He has a Masters in law from the University of Virginia, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in law and economics. He has practiced as a solicitor, been employed with the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program in the Commonwealth Attorney- General’s