Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Making public policy
• Is the policy framed within a particular political or philosophical perspective,
and is it consistent with the values and policy platform of the governing party
or parties?
• Is the policy genuinely directed towards solving a problem in public policy, or
does it primarily seek to solve a ‘political’ problem by creating the impression
of action while having little tangible effect?
• Have similar policies been pursued in other jurisdictions and to what effect?
How might past experience inform policy implementation?
• Whatarethecompetingoptionstoachievethepolicyaims,andhowdothey
compare? Does the policy require enabling legislation? What policy instruments
or tools are available to give effect to the policy? What are the expected/
hoped for impacts of the policy, and how might these be reliably measured and
reported?
• Which groups or communities of interest – including classes of workers, trade
unions, professional associations, advocacy organisations, industry groupings,
communities and/or geographical regions and expected beneficiaries – stand to
be affected by the policy and in what manner,?
• Does the infrastructure exist to give effect to the policy? Is there a functioning
market framework within which the policy might be delivered? What skills
base is necessary to deliver the policy? Is an appropriately skilled workforce
available? What capacity exists within the public and non-state sectors to give
effect to the policy?
• What will policy implementation cost? Is it affordable? Will delivery be
selectively targeted, means-tested or otherwise ‘rationed’? Is it possible to offset
expenditure through some form of cost recovery, such as user fees? What are
the principal cost drivers in the policy space?
• How will the policy be delivered and governed? What systems or frameworks
need to be established to provide assurance to government that policy
implementation and delivery will occur within prescribed timeframes and
budgets? What systems or frameworks are available to ensure that the policy is
performing in the expected manner?
• Has provision been made for periodic evaluations of the effectiveness of the
policy and/or the operational arrangements established to give effect to the
policy, and is there a capacity to make necessary adjustments to the policy and/
or management structures should evaluation findings so indicate?
Policy instruments
Policy instruments enable the application of policy decisions in practice and can be
grouped into the following major categories:
1. money (spending and taxing powers)
2. law (including regulation)
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