Government News is having a think about what an incoming Abbott Government is going to do to the public service.
Some ideas like putting Centrelink functions online and then moving the call centre drones to case management duties will be interesting, but at the end of the day still sees efforts to make work for staff who are still surplus to requirements.
Towards the end there’s an interesting idea:
One of the bigger ideas Dr Shergold has been championing through the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) is the public sector partnering with not-for-profit and community-based organisations to help create a market for the delivery of ‘public goods’ – especially around costly areas like social welfare and employment that traverse jurisdictions.
Although much of the market is effectively structured around outsourcing government service delivery, Dr Shergold has stressed many of the benefits potential need to be viewed from what they deliver in terms of transformation and innovation as opposed to dollar figure cost savings to government.
That view has also been echoed to a degree by outgoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s appointment to replace Dr Shergold, Terry Moran who has publicly advocated that many federal service delivery functions would be more effectively delivered at state and local government levels.
All too often (as seen in Canberra’s recent garbage strike) “innovation” just ends up being getting people to work for less.