Public sector

Report

How to abolish a public body: ten lessons from previous restructures

Public bodies are frequently abolished, but there is little public guidance on how to do this. This report sets out ten practical lessons to help ministers and civil servants to decide when abolitions should happen and then to manage them well.
Working paper

The principles and practice of local government in the Australian three-tiered system of government

This paper discusses the role of local government in the three-tiered system of government in Australia, with special reference to the roles of state and local government in New South Wales.
Report

Addressing complex and cross-boundary challenges in government: the value of strategy mapping

Other authors
Bill Barberg, Anne Carroll, Colin Eden, Bert George, Jose J. Gonzalez, Jessica Rochester, Laure Vandersmissen, Bishoy Zaki
This report builds on the IBM Center’s long-standing research into leveraging new tools and approaches to governance that better position government agencies to address complex challenges that cross or transcend traditional agency boundaries. The report provides practical recommendations on how governments can work with each...
Report

Green investment: the prudent choice for prosperity

This paper sets out how to increase public spending on climate and nature in the United Kingdom, at speed - to maximise economic opportunities and ensure ongoing public support.
Report

Young adults' experiences with Australian public services: final report

This report presents the findings of a large-scale, mixed-methods study of youth transitions in Australia, with a particular focus on young people's experiences with public services.
Report

Trust in Australian public services: 2022 annual report

The survey results outlined in this report show that trust in government public services in the past year is higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Policy report

OECD Good practice principles for public service design and delivery in the digital age

The digital age provides great opportunities to transform how public services are designed and delivered. This publication provides a clear, actionable and comprehensive set of objectives for the high-quality digital transformation of public services.
Report

State of the service report 2021-22

The 'State of the Service Report 2021–22' identifies year-to-year trends in workforce participation and capability across the Australian Public Service (APS). This is the 25th annual report on the state of the APS presented to Parliament.
Discussion paper

Western Australian government intellectual property policy review: discussion paper

The Western Australian intellectual property (IP) policy review aims to develop an outcomes-focused IP policy that reflects best practice and encourages innovation by the public sector and guide public sector agencies to create beneficial outcomes by developing and commercialising IP. This discussion paper outlines proposed...
Policy report

Good practice principles for ethical behavioural science in public policy

Like any policy-making tool, the use of behavioural insights must be subject to ethical considerations that can arise at any point from scoping to policy scaling. This good practice guide offers practitioners and policy-makers step-by-step guidance to prompt deliberations into how to use behavioural science...
Report

Raising the bar: managing climate change risk in public authorities

This report recommends clear, transparent policy direction for public authority directors. This will hopefully enable public authorities to contribute to a whole-of-government picture of climate risk that meets and raises the standards that apply to all organisations, public and private, in discovering, disclosing and addressing...
Report

FlexWork is an opportunity for government to embrace the future of work

This report outlines how government organisations can strike a balance between wellbeing for government workers and productivity for economic benefit.
Working paper

Beyond outsourcing: re-embedding the State in public value production

Public Value Theory emerged within a broader public administration paradigm that called for the re-centering of the State in the identification and management of public activities. In this paper, the authors argue that the dis-embedding of the state from the production of public value undermines...
Report

Reforming public appointments

Ministers make appointments to powerful roles across the public sector. These can be controversial, so ensuring a high calibre of appointees is important. This report responds to concerns about the appointments process – and standards in public life generally – by proposing reforms to restore...
Working paper

Anti-corruption and public integrity strategies - insights from new OECD indicators

The experience of OECD countries shows that addressing corruption requires a comprehensive policy approach. The main purpose of this paper is to inform assessment of anti-corruption policies in the OECD Economic Surveys.
Report

After Boris Johnson: what now for the civil service?

This report recognises the UK civil service’s vital role, but warns that it has been weakened by high-profile policy and operational failures, like the Kabul evacuation and pandemic contingency plans, and damaged by the Downing Street 'partygate' fallout.
Report

Review of culture and accountability in the Queensland public sector: final report

This review aspires to influence a cultural shift, which encourages openness from the top, starting with Cabinet processes and a resulting shared focus on identifying and dealing with the challenges Queensland faces.
Report

Wage norms and the link to public sector salary caps

This report examines the escalating cost of living and retention crisis for New South Wales public sector workers.
Report

Introduction to systems thinking for civil servants: driving improved outcomes in complex situations

The Government Office for Science (UK), in collaboration with the Policy Profession, Royal Academy of Engineering and the Systems Thinking Interest Group, has produced this suite of documents to promote and embed systems thinking across the civil service.
Report

Top of mind: 2022 summary report

This summary report represents a sample of the rich insights and views of Canada’s senior public servants on their work and their institutions. Readers and researchers are well advised to take the time and review the detailed reports more closely, to draw additional lessons and...
Conference paper

Regional resilience and the State - the case of Geelong, Victoria, 1990-2020

This paper argues that there have basically been massive continuities rather than a sudden step up in State intervention as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is illustrated by examining one regional city in Australia – Geelong in Victoria – which has successfully moved...
Working paper

A 50-state review of regulatory procedures

The role of state regulatory agencies is to execute and enforce the statutes passed by state legislatures. Agencies do this by writing and implementing administrative rules that elaborate on unspecified details of requirements found in law. These rules themselves have the force and effect of...
Report

Report of the Inquiry into the education and prevention functions of Victoria’s integrity agencies

This inquiry reports finds that Victorian integrity agencies have generally performed well in achieving educative outcomes through their inquiries, investigations and reports. They have also engaged conscientiously with the public sector and the public, through public information campaigns and often high‑quality education and prevention. resources...
Briefing paper

Public hearings shine light on corruption: sunlight is the best disinfectant

This briefing paper outlines why public hearings fulfil important functions in corruption investigations.
Report

Administration of the JobKeeper scheme

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's administration of the JobKeeper scheme.