Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

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adversary or attaining an end”, and “the method of conducting operations, especially by theaid of manoeuvring or stratagem”. 249 The same Dictionary defines stratagem as a “plan,scheme, or trick for deceiving the enemy” and “any artifice, ruse, or trick”.Clearly not all of this language is suited to the operations of the ACTPS, but what can bedrawn from it, and from the analysis which follows, is a sense of what is meant by strategicpolicy advice. Indeed, the terms of reference for the Review point the way, in asking that itaddress “strategic and direction-setting advice”. It is here where the importance of clarity ofpurpose expressed in terms of strategic direction and priorities to agile government becomessalient – a government can only be agile in its service delivery if it explains where it is goingand what it is trying to achieve.There is a sense that strategic advice is forward looking, even beyond the electoral cycle.There is a sense that it involves engaging with emerging issues and problems rather thanreacting to ones that have already manifested themselves. There is a sense that it involvesengaging with the big issues. There is an inescapable undercurrent of leadership.It is important to note in this context that public services play a key role in both shaping anddelivering governments’ priorities, providing advice on them, as well as on how they mightbe implemented. That role then extends in many cases to the actual “doing”, to performancemonitoring, to reporting and to evaluation.In Ahead of the Game – a title which itself highlights the strategic aspects of public service –the Advisory Group on Reform of Australian Government Administration (AGRAGA)observed that in striving to deliver the highest quality advice to government and services tothe community, public services engage with:1. Strategic policy, which focuses on the broader, long-term challenges facinggovernment; and2. Organisational strategy, which focuses on the policies, people and proceduresneeded to deliver outcomes on behalf of government. 250AGRAGA also stressed the importance of leadership within public service organisations:leaders in the [Australian Public Service] need to deliver on both elements ofstrategy. … Strong leaders devise effective strategic directions, enunciate themclearly, then build support for them within their organisations. 251In describing the role of officials providing strategic policy advice to governments, and whatconstitutes such advice, the Australian Public Service Commissioner recently remarked that:It is a no brainer to accept that good advice will be timely, clear, persuasive, evidencebased (within the limits of the evidence available), balanced, creative, focused on theissues that matter and, hopefully, be capable of cost effective implementation. It isalso a truism that the contestability of policy advice has grown over the years:249 Macquarie Dictionary Online http://www.macquarieonline.com.au/dictionary.html250 Advisory Group on Reform of Government Administration (2010) p.20.251 Advisory Group on Reform of Government Administration (2010) p.20.Strategy, Resource Allocation and the Vacant Middle Ground: 208
Ministers have a range of sources of advice from which to draw ranging fromadvocacy groups to academics and personal advisers. And at the same time thepressure for forward looking and timely advice has intensified.What will compel the attention of ministers to public service advisers is not anassertion on our part that they should listen to us but the demonstration by us that weprovide consistently high quality advice that is informed by a wide range ofperspectives and has a professional appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses ofalternative views. 252Highlighting the challenge of strategic policy work, the Commissioner observed, that it is notjust a matter of making time to think about wicked problems and other “big issues”:effective strategic policy development requires attitudes, resources (especially time)and ways of working that allow disparate skills to be applied to difficult problems tofashion joined up and collaborative solutions. 253Preparing genuinely strategic policy advice is difficult because it “involves problems thatoften span jurisdictional boundaries and may be long term in nature. It requires a range ofspecific skills and methods to generate innovative thinking”. 254Sound, strategic government decision making requires the balancing of competing interests inthe long and short term. In his Foreword, the Chief Minister observes:The Cabinet Handbook sets out procedures designed to ensure the Cabinet’sdecisions are based on timely, rigorous and comprehensive analysis of issues andpossible responses, including their impact on the Canberra community, theenvironment and the economy of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).Rigorous and timely processes assist the Cabinet in coordinating and structuring itscrucial strategic policy and direction setting for the ACT Government as a whole. 255To be successful in providing strategic and direction setting advice to the government of theday, the ACTPS needs to “understand itself, its purpose, and the environmentallandscape”. 256 This work might benefit from “scenario based planning, which does notattempt to predict what is unpredictable, but copes with uncertainty by considering multiple,equally plausible futures”. 257 Scenario planning assists organisations to identify key driversof change through consideration of alternative scenarios, thereby moving discussion anddebate beyond traditional forecasting methods, which analyse drivers in isolation or simplypresume a continuation of current trends into the future.252 Sedgwick, S. (2010) Strategic Policy Development and APS values Keynote address to Leaders in the Public Sector 2010Conference http://www.apsc.gov.au/media/sedgwick120510.htm253 Sedgwick (2010).254 Advisory Group on Reform of Government Administration (2010) p.20.255 ACT Government (2009a) Cabinet Handbook. Canberra, p.2.256 van der Heijden, K. (2005) Scenarios – the Art of Strategic Conversation. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, p,51.257 van der Heijden (2005), p.51.Strategy, Resource Allocation and the Vacant Middle Ground: 209
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Governing the City StateOne ACT Gov
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTALMr Jon Stanhop
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CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........
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Doing Whole of Government in the AC
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Proposed Changes...................
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Investing in Capability ...........
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Acronyms and Short Forms Used in th
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIn September 2010,
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There are nevertheless areas that r
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The Administrative ArrangementsWith
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5. Amend the Public Sector Manageme
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24. Strategic Board outcomes be pro
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Department of Justice andCommunity
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Figure 1 - Current and Proposed Str
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Chief Minister’s Finance Economic
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Figure 2 - Structure optionsOption
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Priority SettingThe Review recommen
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55. Improve workforce data quality
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CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND TO THE REVI
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Guiding Principles - Embracing Uniq
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imperatives, improvements to system
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CHAPTER TWO: CONTEXT FOR THE REVIEW
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capacity of the Commonwealth Execut
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Table 1 - Elected Members at Each L
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The ACT in 1989 and 2010PopulationI
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Figure 5 - Settlement and New Centr
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Canberra in 2010 - a Snapshot• Th
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In addition to the RLF and its rela
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• disability officers (43.9 years
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Figure 9 - Sources of ACT Governmen
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Table 6 - General Government Sector
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looming risks to revenue, which wil
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• the development of a city which
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CHAPTER THREE: GOVERNING THE CITY S
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commitment to an open, accountable,
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This form of Committee meeting woul
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and cooperative relationships betwe
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Australia, should be capable of sig
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with respect to the relationship be
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undertaken, and the roles participa
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These risks can be overcome through
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specific policy areas where it is t
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Despite its inherent appeal to comm
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- and enhance its capacity to provi
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Apples and Oranges - the ACTPS and
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safer and stronger - helping commun
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The ACT's progress is measured by 2
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coordination of action. To function
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Many of the benefits of the single
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priorities and see new ways for COA
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Citizen’s dealings with the ACT G
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Canberra suggests, for example, tha
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community through the proactive use
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innovative ACTPS. Fundamental to th
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times, the operation of COAG has se
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Indeed, in playing its proper role,
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members (where they exist). Overall
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Figure 13 - The Public Interest Map
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Just because an official is exercis
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Appendix 1 - Sample of ACT Governme
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The Administrative ArrangementsThe
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• creating the Sustainable Develo
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Department of Treasury • See Chie
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• maintain the Shared Services Go
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Chief Minister’s Department(Optio
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The most influential aggregation of
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The role of the proposed Chief Mini
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through ACT Government reporting pr
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community events and major economic
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This approach is sound and reflects
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Policies, procedures and guidelines
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Triple Bottom Line sustainability p
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subsequent years the Infrastructure
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Unions ACT noted in its Submission
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While there is clearly a need to en
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As part of this work, the Review re
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across the ACTPS. Significant impro
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Independent Competition and Regulat
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Department of Justice and Community
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accreditation, dispute resolution a
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function as part of the Office for
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The Review also notes work to achie
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ACT Health(Health Directorate - Min
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Significant whole of government, co
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Minister forChildren and YoungPeopl
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Page 180 and 181: It is interesting to note in this c
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Page 184 and 185: Department of Territory and Municip
Page 186 and 187: Proposed ChangesThe Review recommen
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Page 196 and 197: Clearly there is a place in every p
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Page 202 and 203: There is a high level of inefficien
Page 204 and 205: IssuesCOAG’s National Criteria fo
Page 206 and 207: • The linkages between service pr
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Page 210 and 211: o Completion Bond - Bond taken as s
Page 212 and 213: In responding to the recently compl
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Page 216 and 217: Land developmentLand releaseMajor l
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Page 220 and 221: CHAPTER FIVE: STRATEGY, RESOURCE AL
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Page 226 and 227: At the core of this scenario planni
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Page 230 and 231: attempt to align streams of reporti
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Page 244 and 245: Performance and Accountability in t
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Page 256 and 257: Strategy, Resource Allocation and t
Page 258 and 259: too long. There is clearly an unwil
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Page 262 and 263: To complement the existing work exe
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Page 266 and 267: • the greater likelihood of a nar
Page 268 and 269: The Auditor-General has recently ta
Page 270 and 271: • workplace health and safety tra
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The Review recommends establishment
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Responding to the fiscal pressures
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Workplace culture in the ACT Parlia
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explored. With the help of benchmar
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Continuing to provide employees wit
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There is an increasing need for Ser
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… finding this ‘space’ [to in
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Figure 20 - Dimensions of Innovatio
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the past, limitations on external c
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• better information sharing to s
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The plethora of approaches to encou
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Figure 22 - Innovation CycleRecomme
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The legislative employment framewor
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Unions expressed frustration to the
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extend to matters of remuneration a
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• Develop the strategic human res
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Recommendation: Governance• the p
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ameliorate such issues, this is not
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Recommendation: Shared Services•
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This led the Commission to define s
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The second model represents each sp
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The consultation process referred t
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Suggestions:• the sustainability
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taking up to four years. ‘Plannin
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the release of residential land. As
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house prices. Among the actions tar
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The usual model is that Commonwealt
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Canberra also has an extensive walk
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ACTION staff and management are acu
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suggests that it may not be so. Con
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• unless the industrial framework
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Green CabsMany countries are embrac
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modules, each with a lead senior ex
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Dashboard ReportingThe attached tem
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ATTACHMENT A: CHIEF MINISTER’S PR
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ATTACHMENT B: CONSULTATIONConsultat
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Meetings held by the Reviewer• AH
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• RATTENBURY, Shane - Speaker, AC
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BIBLIOGRAPHYACT Auditor-General (20
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Australian Public Service Commissio
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Evans, M. (2009) “Gordon Brown an
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Mulgan, R. (2002) “Accountability
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South Australian Performance Commis
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Williams, G. (2010) “Euthanasia B
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Figure 25 - The Three Spheres of Su
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