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

These risks can be overcome through providing clarity around purpose, scope and timeframe,and that final decisions will, in most cases, rest with the Government. In a democracy,successful community engagement, consultation and collaboration should not aim to achievean outcome where everyone will be happy. Processes that seek to achieve that outcome aredoomed to fail, or to never end. Governments are elected to make decisions in what they seeas the best interests of the citizenry, and ultimately live and die at the ballot box by thequality of those decisions. What genuine participatory decision making offers is a breadth ofexperience not otherwise available and a shared understanding of issues against which policyand program interventions can be judged.Given the ACT’s size, its vocal and demanding citizenry, and scope of responsibilities, thereis the space for participatory practice to contribute significantly to policy and program designprocesses, provided it is located in a theoretical and practical framework that harnesses itspower and recognises its shortcomings. Genuine engagement is measured on a qualitativeand not quantitative scale – the number of participants and volume of their contributions(especially from the “usual suspects”) does not of itself measure the degree of engagement orindicate the extent to which the processes is adding to the Government’s decision makingprocess. There are risks – political and otherwise – of which the Government and the ACTPSshould be mindful in the overuse of engagement methods ranging from “engagement fatigue”to, at best, criticism of delays or failure to take decisions and, at the worst, decision-makingparalysis.A deeper understanding of when inclusive processes work, what conditions are necessary tomake them work, and the skills public service managers need to deploy in making themwork, are essential if the ACTPS is to harness the rich stream of insight and understandingthat can be unlocked if this approach is deployed appropriately and effectively. Perhapsabove all, the Government will need to strike the appropriate balance between deciding on itsown, sharing decision making on some issues, and engaging with the citizenry to improveoutcomes and/or the acceptance of outcomes on others.It will also be necessary to manage the tension between representative Westminsterdemocracy and participatory decision making processes:At present, representative democracy and participatory working are cast in conflicting roles,but both have vital strengths in a strong and healthy society. There is clearly a need to explorethe ways in which the civic energy apparent in new participatory working, and the experienceof decision-making in the public interest from years of representative democracy, can bebrought together. 82This is a challenge to which the ACTPS will need to rise if it is to unlock the benefits ofPublic Value Management, but it is an issue with which the ACT Government has alreadybegun to engage. As a starting point, CMD has conducted research on preferred methods ofcommunity engagement. Perhaps unsurprisingly the report concludes:82 Involve (2005) p.24Governing the City State: 67