Wednesday, March 27, 2019

The next long wave of reform — where will the ideas come from?

— Catherine of Siena, born in 1347 suggested that "God is closer to us than water is to a fish"

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. “Christopher Payne, the industrial and architectural photographer whose last project for The Times Magazine’s Future of Work issue was about nine people who love their jobs, has made more than 40 trips over the last two years to photograph the College Point plant.




’You Jews are all damned,’ said a Christian to a Jew. ‘Why?’ asked the Jew. ‘Because you crucified our Lord.’ ‘Tell you what,’ said the Jew, ‘When you find ours, crucify him too.’”



And this:

“A baby with six fingers on his right hand was born to a Jew. The father, as well as the mother and the rest of the relatives, was very brokenhearted.

“An acquaintance visited the family, and when the mother complained about her bad luck, their Jewish friend responded, ‘Hey, what’s there to fear? I congratulate you. Your son is a born piano player.’”

A Mode of Defense and Consolation





TERRY MORAN: CPD chair's Accountability Roundtable address includes the key steps he thinks must be taken as part of Thodey’s review of the Australian Public Service.
NEW GOVERNMENTS: First time ministers will try to put their stamp on the regulatory world they oversee. Mark Pearson shares important factors to consider when contemplating regulatory change.
DOMESTIC ABUSE POLICIES: Victoria is rushing its family violence reforms, says the man who monitors implementation.
WELFARE DEPENDENCY: The federal government should prioritise funding for “essential” place-based and wrap-around services to help people living in entrenched disadvantage, says a parliamentary committee.
Advances in technology of all forms provide the opportunity to significantly alter the way we deliver healthcare to meet a number of these challenges. (Partner content)
Leadership capability across the APS has been improving in recent years, and recent analysis of 360-feedback data from the Centre for Public Management (CPM) has identified those areas providing the biggest opportunities for further development. (Partner content)
PARTNER EBOOK: Download Four best practices for data driven decision-making for practical tips on how to define and measure metrics, empower your team, interpret and present data visually and nurture a culture of collaboration. (Partner content)


PETER SHERGOLD: When outcomes fall short of rhetoric, it’s the senior public servants who are responsible for the resulting general cynicism.
VERONA BURGESS: What would a Labor government do with the APS review? Abandon it? Reconstitute it? Let it direct policy and legislation?
DATA SECURITY: A new six-member National Data Advisory Council will support the newly created office of the National Data Commissioner. Here are the appointees.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Top level APS leaders to get executive coaches while DFAT calls for consultants to support them (and others) with policy design, review, monitoring and evaluation.








Author and journalist William Wheeler once said, “Good writing is clear thinking made visible.” This is especially true for the public sector, where the most important issues requiring the clearest thinking are examined in writing. Read more. (Partner content)
When Australian exporters look north to Southeast Asia and a little further to China they can see huge opportunities, but exporting to Asia can be a daunting prospect. Read more. (Partner content)
 

Center for International Development, at Harvard University
Observers claim that public policies fail ‘often’. This paper asks, ‘how often’? It is an important question, because public policies absorb resources to address major social issues. We should know if policies are proving bad social investments; routinely failing to solve focal problems at high costs.
John Freebairn, for Pursuit
Some forms of government assistance can help facilitate adjustment to drought, whilst on the other hand, ad hoc handouts to farm businesses can have undesirable effects in terms of Australia’s national productivity and equity.