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

There continue to be situations in the ACT government where there are cumbersome,traditional separate department processes that slow down and impede outcomes for clientsand services. A good example would be young people in out of home care requiring wraparound supports from Education, Vocational Training, Foster Care, Health and Justicerequiring these agencies to work collaboratively to integrate their services and supportsaround vulnerable young people. These young people are the recipients of each of thesedepartments’ services and need to be the collective rather than the partial focus of each. 98The Conservation Council ACT Region Inc similarly argued:There is a widespread feeling in the community that public servants believe “they know best”… many decisions seem to made in silos with poor inter-departmental communication and coordination,or at times, even poor intra-departmental communication. 99National Disability Service ACT echoed this perception in its Submission to the Review,although focussed in the human services rather than the conservation and planning arena. Itnoted:Currently, disability services providers may be required to deal with differentdepartments … about different aspects of service provision to an individual client …The separation of accountability, within and between departments, may provide theopportunity for departments to shift responsibilities and costs between departments,making it difficult for service providers and users to navigate the system. 100Governing the City State: “One ACT Government – One ACTPS”It is clear from the preceding review of academic thought and best practice that there is muchthe ACTPS could do to improve its capacity to provide the government of the day withcomprehensive and coherent whole of government strategic advice and to enhance thedelivery of government programs. It is also clear that the foundations of this important workhave already been laid. It remains the case, however, that genuinely collaborative and crosscuttingwhole of government working, while not new to the ACTPS is, and will remain,tough.The Review has concluded that the ACTPS will be best able to support the Government andserve the people of Canberra if it is positioned to be agile, if it continually strives to deliverpublic value, and if it makes the most of its small size and works together in a genuinelycollaborative and cooperative way in the pursuit of clearly articulated Government priorities.The question must then be, however, how should the ACTPS be organised for this future?Structural changes can assist in driving new behaviours and ways of working – in some casesforcing new systems to be developed. They are, however, a necessary, but not sufficient,facilitator of the transformational change the ACTPS must make if it is to continue to provide98 Submission No. 2. Anglicare Canberra & Goulburn.99 Submission No.21.100 Submission No.25. National Disability Services ACT.Governing the City State: 72