Australian Journal of Public Administration最新文献

Robodebt was an administratively harmful policy created by bureaucrats incrementally extending existing welfare compliance policies in Australia. This article analyses the long history that created the malign institutional state in which Robodebt was able to occur. It argues the fertile ground for this policy was laid through the historical interplay of three institutional processes: the rules of Commonwealth budget making, the fractured relationship between policy and service delivery in Australian social security, and the structure of the fraud and compliance framework of the Department of Human Services. This created a pattern of institutional change in which compliance policies were added in incremental layers over decades before Robodebt as part of an ongoing drive for savings and operational efficiency. The article concludes by arguing the recommendations of the Royal Commission, which focus on improved legal processes and oversight, are insufficient to resolve the institutional problems at the root of Robodebt.

Points for practitioners

Various studies have provided evidence that, especially in the Global South, relational street-level bureaucracy can play a constructive role in bridging the gap between vulnerable population groups and a distant, formal bureaucracy that often fails to guarantee citizens’ rights and factual access to public services and benefits. However, studies have also highlighted street-level bureaucracies’ vulnerability to practices of corruption, patrimonialism, and clientelism as they engage with citizens through more informal mechanisms. In this article, we contribute to understanding which institutional conditions can promote constructive citizen-bureaucrat interactions by presenting findings from a qualitative study on proximity policing in a densely populated suburb of Mexico City with some of the highest crime levels in the entire metropolitan area. Sustained and managerially supported implementation of proximity policing has improved citizen-police relations and facilitated learning processes by both officers and residents, while minimizing risks of clientelism. Although this model of municipal policing is no panacea for complex security issues, it does confirm existing evidence regarding the importance of relational street-level bureaucracy for improving citizen trust and, moreover, highlights the importance of consistent managerial and citizen involvement as enabling factors.

Points for practitioners

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that new digital tools played a major role in the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies aimed at containing and defeating the virus. However, relying on digital tools should not undermine the role of experts in the policy process. This paper answers the following question as means of examing the relationship between technology and expertise: To what extent has the introduction of technology-assisted tools complemented and empowered health experts to provide more effective policy advice? By answering this question, the paper investigates the opportunities and challenges of technology-backed sources of ‘policy knowledge’ as ‘advisory assistants’ of conventional expert communities in the policy processes. Drawing on a case study from a developing country, I demonstrate how the introduction of the ‘Wiqaytna’ mobile application in Morocco facilitated reporting of higher risk locations and provided operational feedback for ‘the scientific committee’ enabling them to deliver more efficient and effective actions against COVID-19, despite the underlying technical and ethical problems associated with the use of such tools.

Points for practitioners

We argue that new public management (NPM) and other processes have led to adverse selection and agency rent problems within the political elite in Australia. The politicisation of the public service and the rise of careerist politicians have led to the de-separation of what was once two distinct career paths within the political elite. This has changed the decision premise of the advisory system for policy formation and implementation, leading to worse public policy, even policy disasters. We recommend that some of the principles of the Westminster form of government be updated and re-instituted for political elites within the structures of the Australian government. We canvass four reforms: return to merit appointments and promotion for public servants; a return to tenure for senior public servants; an enhanced push for descriptive representation within the career public service; and a formal role for staffers with centralised appointments, inability to instruct public servants, and restrictions on political and policy roles once leaving public service. These are designed to end the distrust, perceived corruption, and poor governance in the Australian government.

Points for practitioners

This research note presents an exploratory case study that investigates ways in which Human Learning Systems (HLS) has been applied to a new UK health initiative, Collaborative Newcastle. Collaborative Newcastle is a multi-agency venture that brings together the National Health Service, local government, higher education, voluntary organisations, and the community sector to encourage innovation and cooperation in delivering healthcare services. As part of this initiative, multi-agency leadership training has been delivered to managers working within the Collaborative Newcastle organisations to lead within an HLS ethos. It will offer comments on some of the claims to originality that are made on behalf of HLS and other relational models of public management. HLS is in its infancy in Australasia, and therefore this note also offers suggestions from the case study on learnings that could be transposed into the southern hemisphere.

Points for practitioners

Collaboration is a key strategy among local governments as expectations of the sector grow and resources to meet them fall short. Thus, more research is needed to consider how local governments can be supported to collaborate with others, not least for community health and wellbeing outcomes. In an earlier study, we explored inter-municipal cooperation using social network analysis and local government perspectives on community health and wellbeing in the Australian state of Tasmania. Extending that study in ways reported here, we interviewed elected representatives and council staff to understand how and why Tasmanian local governments might collaborate with others to support community health and wellbeing. Findings show participants want councils to work more collaboratively to effectively deal with common challenges but are impeded by factors such as isolation and resource shortages. Tasmania's local government reform and Healthy Tasmania strategic plan are significant opportunities for collaborative practice to be enhanced among its local governments generally, and specifically in relation to community health and wellbeing. We advocate for a more considered approach to collaboration for community health and wellbeing that could deliver far-reaching benefits for local governments and their communities.

Points for practitioners

The shift from local government to local governance has become a pervasive trend globally. Yet, little attention has been devoted to systematisation of existing knowledge on local governance. To enhance the understanding of local governance in public administration, this article provides a systematic literature review of 141 articles published in leading public administration journals between 1990 and 2022. Six lines of study are identified, including community, power, partnership, participation, reform, and performance, and 10 propositions about these themes are summarised. Existing literature has transcended excessive optimism and simplistic views to respond to the complexity of local governance practice, whereas the findings show some complexity and variety, and there are still gaps to be filled. Future studies are expected to consider different contexts, refine the research methods, and shed light on the roles of non-governmental organisations, the balance between public values and local autonomy, the impact of technological reform, and the interactions among multiple factors in local governance.

Points for practitioners

This article examines how street-level organisations (SLO) respond to new legal framework conditions after regulatory reform. Organisational response to a changed legal framework is key to understand implementation resilience as established organisational practice may collide with new legal obligations. Our cases are four family support and child protection organisations in a Swiss canton facing new legislation. These SLO and their personnel are strongly committed to their clientele and thus cannot simply adapt to new legislation. The study shows how the organisations perceive their discretion in the implementation of the new policy framework, the accountabilities they are bound by, and the way they cope with divergent requirements and conflicting priorities given their dependence on the regulator as commissioner of their work. SLO differ in their strategies for dealing with the new legal framework depending on the economic context in which they operate, in particular if they act as mainly privately run organisations.

Points for practitioners