THE IMAGE OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR IN AUSTRALIA*

After the recent Federal elections, I am more confident in saying that I do not always believe the polls. In this instance, I have the feeling that the image of public administrators in Australia is probably worse than the surveys indicated. The latest bumper bar sticker in Canberra reads: “Fight inflation, run over a public servant today”. The Australian is running a series of articles critical of the size, efficiency and effectiveness of public services. The cup-of-tea image is a popular one and kick-a-public-servant-today has every possibility of developing into a national sport; the “fat cat” image has caught on.     

RESTRUCTURING THE STATE ENERGY COMMISSION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Abstract: In the "WA Advantage" statement of February 1992, the Western Australian premier announced restructuring proposals for the State Energy Commission of Western Australia (SECWA). The Dampier-Perth natural gas pipeline will be taken out of SECWA and operated by an independent authority on an open access basis. SECWA will also withdraw from the Pilbara region to be replaced by a Pilbara Electricity and Gas Authority. To be considered by the Carnegie Commission are proposals for the separation of electricity and gas operations and, within electricity operations, separation into generation, transmission, distribution and supply functions. The rationale for these policy changes is an attempt to introduce competition into these sectors of the energy market to improve efficiency and reduce the disparities in energy costs between Western Australia and the other Australian states. If carried out to their full extent, the proposals for SECWA will amount to the most comprehensive restructuring of a publicly owned energy utility in Australia.     

INADEQUACIES IN THE PROCESSES OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract: Policy and policy development have received considerable attention in Australia over the last decade or more. This attention has resulted in many recommendations on policy in the series of major public service inquiries of the 1970s, in a number of books and journal articles on varied aspects of public policy, and in the considerable strengthening of the policy development capacities of many government agencies. This attention has to date been inadequate, because it has in almost all cases concentrated on the questions of where within the bureaucratic structure policy development should occur and what procedural mechanisms are needed to allow ministers or cabinet to choose between alternative policies and to facilitate the coordination of policies. These questions are of course important, but questions of how a well-considered policy option that can be considered by a cabinet or a minister is actually developed appear to have been almost totally ignored. In the public service inquiries, in the published literature, and in public accounts of the work of policy units, there appears to be virtually no analysis of the process of policy development. There is little or no discussion of how the standard formal models of policy development match or fail to match the techniques used in Australia, and although there have been many individual case studies of policy issues, there are no comparative case studies from which general observations might be drawn. Lastly, there are very few positive suggestions as to how policy development in Australia could be improved. Overcoming these inadequacies provides a major challenge to Australian policy workers.     

THE DELIMITATION OF GOVERNMENT REGIONS AND STATISTICAL AREAS IN AUSTRALIA

Over the past decade State and Commonwealth governments in Australia have become increasingly concerned with the regional scale of activity where region, defined at its broadest, refers to an area which is larger than the Local Government Area (LGA) and smaller than the State. This concern arose in part with belief that "some programs and services of government are most efficiently and effectively planned, coordinated and delivered at a level intermediate to those of State and Local Government". This in turn reflected the growth in importance of the regional scale for the whole gamut of social and economic functioning. Rapid technological changes in transport and communication; the tremendous growth in personal mobility over the past 30 years; the rapid urban growth; the powerful organizing role of urban centres and the increasing interdependence of town and country have all made the regional unit a very significant spatial and functional entity which it is impossible to ignore when organizing activity of any sort. In particular this "shrinkage of space" has enabled both public and private sector activity to be organized effectively over much larger areas than previously, while technological changes have increased the scale at which many services, especially those involving physical plant, are most efficiently performed.     

THE IMPLICATIONS OF HIGH LEVELS OF PUBLIC SECTOR DEBT FOR ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING: THE CASE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Abstract: The relatively small and open South Australian economy has been facing the difficulties associated with the structural adjustment of its industry for over 15 years. In addition, the South Australian public sector has been contending with financial difficulties largely as a result of a reduction in grants from the commonwealth before the failure of the State Bank of South Australia. This paper reviews the growth and current level of government indebtedness in South Australia and discusses which group(s) is likely to bear the main burden of such debt. The main consequences of high levels of state public sector debt, including budgetary inflexibility, are also examined. The paper suggests that it will be necessary for relative wages and prices to adjust more freely if the negative impacts of an inevitable state government budgetary consolidation are to be minimised. If wages and prices are not free to adjust then unemployment will continue to take the brunt of the adjustment process. In addition, out-migration of businesses and people from South Australia will accelerate, leading to a further erosion of the taxation base. The State Bank indemnity arrangements and consequent levels of public sector debt incurred will require the state government to reduce the level and quality of services provided by the state public sector, sell state public sector assets and further improve efficiency and effectiveness. However, there are a number of important arguments why taxation should be an important means by which the South Australian government moves to retire public sector debt as soon as practicable. Not the least important of these arguments is the need to ensure accountability by elected representatives of government for their expenditure decisions.     

THE ADMINISTRATION OF FRENCH NATIONAL ECONOMIC PLANNING: LESSONS FOR AUSTRALIA

"We are therefore giving priority to setting up economic planning machinery with industry and employee co-operation to restore strong but balanced economic growth."—E. G. Whitlam, The Australian , 14th May, 1973.     

ASSURING HOSPITAL STANDARDS: THE INTRODUCTION OF HOSPITAL ACCREDITATION IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract: The system of hospital accreditation that has developed in Australia involves a quasi non-government organization, the Australian Council on Hospital Standards (ACHS), "surveying" hospitals and issuing certificates to those which meet published standards. The surveying process has the potential to influence the internal hospital balance of power between doctors and the hospital administration, and to place additional demands on statutory health authorities. The ACHS was set up formally in 1977 following a protracted process of discussion, research and inter-organizational conflict that had its origins in proposals framed in the 1920s. The roles played by the sponsors of accreditation (the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Hospital Association) and by its detractors, especially the Health Commission of New South Wales, are explained using concepts developed in theories of inter-organizational relations.     

THE PRIVATISATION OF HUMAN SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA: HAS IT HAPPENED?

Abstract: The privatisation of Australia's public services has been one of the major challenges facing public administration since the early 1980s. Its enthusiastic proponents and their equally fervent opponents have generated considerable controversy. Yet its impact may have been exaggerated. A number of writers have deplored its spread in Australia's human services. Yet their evidence for privatisation does not stand scrutiny. As well, if privatisation had occurred, it would have had an impact upon the flow of public finance and that should be reflected in public finance data. An examination of that data provides almost no support for the claim that the 1980s saw significant privatisation of Australia's human services.
The current debate on privatisation … indicates a movement to return social welfare provision to sectors or systems other than government (ACOSS 1989 p.6).
The re-emergence of the voluntary sector has been facilitated by public policies designed to transfer responsibility for welfare services from the government to the non-government sector (Baldock 1990, p. 109).
with the more systematic transfer of services to the non-governmental sector (Baldock 1990, p. 113).
over the past two decades … a number of functions such as service delivery and management have been transferred from the state in a way that in most terms amounts to privatisation (NCOSS 1989, p.2).
This rebirth of the non-government sector can arguably be seen as a privatisation of the welfare state (NCOSS 1989, p.22).
Human services in New South Wales have been and continue to be the subject of a wide range of reviews intended to produce changes which fit under the general rubric of "privatisation" (Evatt Research Centre 1989, p.208).
The moves towards privatisation, if they are to continue, will have serious long term consequences (Graycar & Jamrozik 1989, p.296).