Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
(one example being the impact of changes in revenue or spending decisions by
the Commonwealth government upon state/territory governments) and between
nations in respect of multilateral or bilateral agreements (examples being trade
agreements or United Nations conventions).
In Australia, central agencies of government – Departments of Prime Minister
and Cabinet or Premier and Cabinet/Chief Minister – perform an essential policy
co-ordination role. It falls to these agencies to review policy and budget proposals
emanating from ministers and their departments and to seek comment from other
ministries and agencies in order to identify any unintended consequences that might
arise. Once comments have been compiled from affected agencies – including other
central agencies, such as Departments of Treasury and Finance as well as agencies
responsibleforgovernmentrevenue–abriefing, together with recommendations,
will be prepared for the consideration of Cabinet. Vetting of this nature often
requires specialist knowledge of particular policy domains and of the statutory basis
for government programs and services. It also depends less on political theory and
more on an appreciation of the practical and pragmatic dimensions of public policy.
Policy analysis
The aphorism ‘the best is the enemy of the good’, commonly attributed to the
French Enlightenment writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778), neatly encapsulates
a key challenge of public policy. At some level, all policy decisions represent
compromises between different interests and involve considerations about political
acceptability as well as economic and technical feasibility. To quote the 19thcentury
German statesman Otto von Bismarck, ‘politics is the art of the possible’ –
likewise, policy is the art of the achievable.
Policy analysis is an important part of the ‘craft’ of policy making. The task of
the analyst is to understand the implications of policy decisions in terms of their
impact on the policy problems being addressed; any unintended consequences for
government or the community; and their legal, economic and technical soundness.
Policy analysis is essential for the provision of policy assurance and enables the
analyst to provide answers to the following key questions:
• Isthepolicywelltargeted?
• Is the policy delivery architecture well designed?
• How will performance be measured?
• Howwillweknowifthepolicyisworking?
• If the policy is not working, what corrective action is available?
In order to make reliable pragmatic judgements about such matters, it is important
for the analyst to give close consideration to a wide range of factors. The kinds
of questions the astute policy analyst might ask include:
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