New South Wales

New South Wales easily retained its reputation as the State of commotion. Politicians and administrators during the past twelve months have lived through interesting times. Things are out in the open, at least. A rich and varied range of inquiries has been tackling problems which have remained hidden for decades. Hard items on the agenda of administrative reform are at last receiving attention. Courts and parliamentary procedures are being revitalized. The next great uproar will occur when the long-awaited Freedom of Information Act arrives and provides ordinary members of the public with their own tickets of admission to the political and administrative arena.     

Emerging Directions in Public Sector Management in New South Wales

This article describes some of the changes taking place within the NSW public sector to enable it to meet efficiently the future demands of a diverse community. It features a range of major reforms that are under way across legislative, administrative and financial frameworks to enhance the sector's ability to cope with technological advances and enhance service delivery.     

Continuity and Change: The New South Wales Public Sector Under Labor

This paper analyses recent developments in wage bargaining in the New South Wales public sector under the Labor government. It contrasts the approach taken by the former Coalition government with that of its successor. The discussion is focused on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Labor government and the public sector unions. With the agreement of the unions, the government has reasserted both substantive and procedural control over public sector industrial relations. This has not, however, prevented widespread industrial action in schools, hospitals and public transport and continuing tensions between the principal public service union and the government.     

Local Government Failure in Australia? An Empirical Analysis of New South Wales

The complexities of contemporary local governance in Australia and other advanced democracies provide social scientists with significant theoretical and empirical challenges. Drawing on recent developments, including public choice theory, economists have sought to develop taxonomic systems of government failure specifically tailored to local government circumstances. This paper seeks to extend the Dollery and Wallis (2001b) taxonomy of local government failure by invoking Olson's (1965) concept of political entrepreneurship. The paper then attempts to determine the empirical validity of the augmented taxonomy by examining it in the context of NSW local government.     

Can Cooperation Be Mandated? Implementing Intergovernmental Environmental Management in New South Wales and New Zealand

Various forces have led to new thinking about approaches tointergovernmental regulation, emphasizing a shift from the heavyhand of coercive mandates to more cooperative approaches. Thisresearch examines the implementation of cooperative policiesaddressing aspects of environmental management in New SouthWales, Australia, and in New Zealand. Analyses are undertakenof the cooperative policy designs, government agencies' implementationefforts and styles, and local government officials' perceptionsof intergovernmental cooperation. Bringing about intergovernmentalcooperation is not automatic, nor does it appear to be easy.An empirical modeling shows that high levels of agency commitmentand capacity are required in order to foster facilitative implementationstyles. The design of policy mandates is important in signalingcooperative desires and structuring implementation to fosterappropriate agency implementation styles.     

Implementing Racial Anti-vilification Laws in New South Wales 1989-1998: A Study

Anti-vilification laws in Australia now have a decade-long history, yet remarkably little research has been conducted into their operation, nor has there been any systematic collation of outcomes. This paper seeks to fill this gap in the available research and also to make some proposals as to how to improve the legislation in practice. The paper reports on 10 years of complaints lodged under the NSW racial anti-vilification legislation, the oldest in Australia enacted in 1989. Other similar legislation followed in WA, SA, Tasmania. The results of all finalised case files from NSW since its inception in 1989 to the end of 1998 (568 cases) are examined. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Some statistical data are provided, which are not relative; that is, there is no meaning available or implied between the different categories of outcome and each case has been interpreted separately. The qualitative method used provides an in-depth examination of specific case study outcomes in order to provide an accurate and sensitivepicture of the legislation in practice. The study may also be of use to researchers in other complaints-driven systems of regulation designed to support beneficial legislation.     

Towards a Model Public Sector Integrity Commission

This article examines the current debate in Australia about public sector integrity and the idea of a standing anticorruption commission. From this debate the article outlines a specific type of ‘public sector integrity commission’ that in principle should have the necessary powers and techniques at its disposal to minimise corruption while ensuring efficiency and fairness. The debate has been most active in jurisdictions that have not had an anticorruption commission – mainly in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania – but debate about integrity commissions has occurred in all jurisdictions. The authors argue that anticorruption commissions are essential to ensure the integrity of the public sector and that a model commission should: cover all elements of the public sector; independently investigate serious and mid‐level complaints; have own motion powers to investigate any matter; have summary authority to apply administrative sanctions; make use of a range of investigative tools; not be tasked with combating major and organised crime; and be held accountable to citizens through a parliamentary committee and a parliamentary inspector.     

关于廉政制度创新的思考

随着社会的进步和发展,以及腐败本身的多样化特征,传统的廉政制度似乎已经不能有效地遏制腐败.迫切需要进行廉政制度的创新.     

Efficiency Measurement in Australian Local Government: The Case of New South Wales Municipal Water Services

Australian local government has experienced a series of reforms directed at increasing economic efficiency. An important element in the reform program has been the development of a number of partial indicators of local government service delivery in the states and territories. This paper attempts to augment this literature on performance measurement in Australian local government by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) with holistic indices of allocative and technical efficiency in New South Wales (NSW) municipal water services. It also seeks to incorporate qualitative indicators into efficiency measures. “Best-practice” councils are identified and the underlying causes of municipal water service efficiency are analyzed.     

Less Haste,More Speed: The Fit for the Future Reform Program in New South Wales Local Government

In August 2011 the New South Wales (NSW) Government established the Independent Local Government Review Panel to examine the options for improving the sustainability of the NSW local government sector. In October 2014 the NSW Government set out its response in its Fit for the Future reform program. This paper provides a critical assessment of the Fit for the Future program. We show that it contains errors, relies on unreliable data, and neglects important factors, which may be ascribed to the haste with which it has been constructed. This could have serious consequences given the potential impact the Fit for the Future program will have on NSW local government. We thus conclude that it would be prudent to address these matters before proceeding further with the program.     

Promoting Public Service Integrity: A Case for Responsible Accountability

We discuss below difference between the concepts of accountability and responsibility, in the context of government administration. We argue that New Zealand's public sector reforms, in particular, have depended on an essentially mechanistic as distinct from an organic interpretation of public organisations. A mechanistic approach focuses disproportionately on notions of organisational accountability at the expense of responsibility, and as a consequence may prove counterproductive over the longer term in maintaining high standards of ethical probity. A concept of responsible accountability needs to be developed further as a means of countering this possibility. We speculate on whether the emphasis on contractualism has enhanced or undermined an integrity-based as opposed to a compliance-based ethics regime, and the possible implications of this for the maintenance of ethical standards.     

官员诚信问题与干部人事制度改革

造成地方政府官员诚信不足的原因很多,干部人事制度不完善是一个重要原因。为此,应完善干部选拔任用机制,从根本上保证地方政府官员的诚实守信;规范干部考核晋升制度,构建地方官员诚信激励机制;健全监督惩戒体系,筑起失信行为的防火墙。     

Questioning the New Public Management

Books reviewed in this article: Ali Farazmand (ed.), Privatization or Public Enterprise Reform? International Case Studies with Implications for Public Management B. Guy Peters, The Future of Governing     

Don't Rock the Boat: the Commonwealth National Integrity System Assessment

This article is a summary report on the findings of the Commonwealth component of the National Integrity System Assessment (NISA) project. This part of the NISA project commenced in May 2002, although some preliminary work had been done before then. The methodology included interviews and a questionnaire. Representatives from eight agencies with central responsibility for integrity matters, and five lines agencies responsible for the implementation of the integrity policies were interviewed. The questionnaire was circulated to a number of agencies with ten agencies responding. The study was completed in April 2004.