Centre for Policy Development's Blog, page 51

COTA Australia National Policy Forum | Canberra | 22 July

Age Australia fair?
CPD Chief Executive Travers McLeod keynote: Making an Australia for all ages – what’s the plan?

COTA Australia is the peak national organisation representing the rights, needs and interests of older Australians. Hosted by the National Policy Council, COTA’s Forums are high level strategic events that explore the opportunities and challenges that face older Australians as they seek to participate in our community.

It is expected that by 2056 one in four people living in Australia will be over the age of 65 and 1.8 million of them will be over 85.

What this means has been the subject of much public debate and this year’s Federal Budget includes a number of measures that ask significant sacrifices of older Australians to manage this future.

COTA Australia sees the need for a more integrated approach.

This forum will bring together the key thinkers, in this space, to focus on how ready Australia is to harness the potential and meet the challenge of our rapidly ageing society.

Where:

National Press Club of Australia, National Circuit, Barton, ACT | map

When:

22 July 2014

Registration:

To register your interest email events@cota.org.au or call Leanne Lovell on 03 9909 7910.

More information:

http://www.cota.org.au/australia/Events/2014/national-policy-forum-2014.aspx

ABC Big Ideas | 16 July 2014

The global governance deficit

Broadcast of the public lecture by Pascal Lamy, former World Trade Organisation Director General and Chair of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, as hosted by CPD and the UTS Business School on 28 May.

The lecture, which proposed multi-sectoral ‘creative coalitions’ as a solution to deficiencies in global governance, was followed by responses from former WA Premier Geoff Gallop, City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone and Professor Roy Green from UTS Business. The discussion touched on the need for governance structures to address long term and intergenerational issues in their thinking. Including corporate, community and local government forums in policymaking was seen as a way to subvert the short-term thinking inherent in traditional government processes.

Read more about this event: launch of Now for the Long Term

Hear the broadcast or download audio on ABC.net.au

 

DONATE to help CPD insert real evidence & expertise into Australian policy debates!

 

National Growth Areas Alliance Congress | 15-17 October, Playford, SA

Growth that works: : creating next generation industry and jobs in outer urban Australia
2014 Inaugural NGAA National Congress

The City of Playford in South Australia will be hosting the 2014 Inaugural National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA) National Congress from 15-17 October 2014.

Centre for Policy Development CEO Travers McLeod joins the cross-sectoral panel, with  Andrew McDougall, Assoc Prof John Spoehr, Lance Worrall, and Dr Tim Williams, discussing the challenges and possibilities of creating next generation industry and jobs in outer suburban areas.

A summary of the program to date is as follows:

Wednesday 15, October 2014: Site Tours & Welcome Reception

Thursday 16, October 2014: Conference & Awards Night Dinner

Friday 17, October 2014: Conference

Registration (register before 20 June for early bird rates!):

Register via Eventbrite

Full program:

Download the program from NGAA website

High level roundtable on asylum seeker policy | 11 July, Parliament House, Canberra

Forging a long-term framework for asylum seeker policy: expert open dialogue seeking a new approach.
A joint initiative of CPD, Australia21 and the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW.
Parliament House, Canberra, 11 July 2014

 

CPD worked with two partner organisations to convene a roundtable of 35 senior policymakers, politicians and commentators on asylum seeker policy.

Participants included a former Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, a strategist from Malaysia, and parliamentarians from three of the four major parties.

The roundtable provided an opportunity for this diverse group of policymakers and experts to consider the options in open dialogue, and to explore the feasibility and practicability of a new approach to asylum seeker policy.

Participants

The roundtable was conducted under the Chatham House Rule and was informed by a discussion paper coordinated by CPD: Beyond Operation Sovereign Borders: a long-term asylum policy for Australia. Two former senior Immigration Department officials, Peter Hughes and CPD Fellow Arja Keska-Nummi were the lead authors.Paris Aristotle AM, Adam Bandt MP, Paul Barratt AO, Admiral Chris

Barrie AC, Father Frank Brennan SJ AO, Julian Burnside AO QC, The Hon Fred Chaney AO, Dr Joyce Chia, Noel Clement, Dr David Corlett, Senator Sam Dastyari, Professor Bob Douglas AO, Erika Feller, Ellen Hansen, Dr Claire Higgins, Peter Hughes PSM, Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny, Arja Keski-Nummi, Dr Anne Kilcullen, David Lang, Ben Lewis, Libby Lloyd AM, The Hon Ian Macphee AO, Professor Robert Manne, Professor Jane McAdam, Dr Travers McLeod, John Menadue AO, Right Reverend Professor Stephen Pickard, Reverend Elenie Poulos, Paul Power, Ambassador Wiryono Sastro Handoyo, Jo Szwarc, Angus Taylor MP, Oliver White and Steven Wong.

 

Download media release: roundtable on asylum policy

Access photo album on CPD’s Facebook page

Download Beyond Operation Sovereign Borders: A Long-term Asylum Policy for Australia

 

DONATE to help CPD insert real evidence & expertise into Australian policy debates!

 

ABC TV The Drum | 2 July 2014

Travers McLeod on The Drum panel

CPD’s new Chief Executive Travers McLeod joined host Steve Cannane, Fairfax media’s Jacqueline Maley and Chris Berg from the Institute of Public Affairs. The panel discussion centred on such diverse topics as the possible refoulement of asylum seekers, means-testing childcare, praising wartime Menzies and insulting Tasmanians.  

Replay Travers McLeod on ABC TV’s The Drum

 

DONATE to help CPD insert real evidence & expertise into Australian policy debates!

 

Australian Institute of Police Management | 26 June 2014

False economies: Good, better, best. 

CPD’s latest publication received recognition from this long-established ‘executive development and leadership training’ provider to senior police ranks.

The report recommends the APS should: focus on organisational outcomes, with clearly defined priorities informed by a national planning process; improve accountability by closer engagement with service users and front-line public servants; reinforce efforts to increase trust between management and staff; and work for more constructive relationships between ministers and public servants.

Read the story on the AIPM website

Read more about False economies:unpacking public service efficiency

Depts of Communication and Environment | Policy Reflection Forum | 9 July 2014

Part of Innovation Month ’14: ‘Empower, Collaborate, Transform’

Innovation Month 2014 (7 July–1 August) is a practical exploration of innovation for members of the public service and its partners. It is about sharing ideas, experiences, techniques and challenges.

CPD’s Christopher Stone will present to an audience of public servants from the Departments of Communication and Environnment, at the Policy Reflection Forum on 9 July. He will specifically examine two case studies underpinning recommendations in his recent report, F​alse economies: unpacking public service efficiency.​

Cross-agency teams (as used to facilitate responses to child abuse and neglect by SCAN teams). Although historically used to promote coordination, this approach could provide a very effective stimulus to innovation.
Policy ‘wiki’ (as successfully implemented in Alberta, Canada). This is a novel consultation process, which uses an online platform to allow citizens and public servants to collaborate directly in the production of a Social Policy Framework.

Chris will explore how these examples of innovative practice in other jurisdictions can provide learnings for new and effective ideas in an Australian Public Service context.

In keeping with the forward-looking theme, and particularly in keeping with the concept of dynamic efficiency, the presentation will be delivered using the latest video conferencing facility available to the agencies.

Clean Energy Week | Storage session, Policy & Finance conference | 23 July, Sydney

Australia’s biggest event for the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry, Clean Energy Week 2014 (CEW2014) will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 22 July to Friday 25 July. CEW2014 events will be held in two venues: with the high-level policy and finance program in the CBD, and the ATRAA solar stream and trade show at Sydney Showground. 

Policy and Finance conference

Hosted by the Clean Energy Council, Australia’s peak industry body, the Policy and Finance conference delivers the latest news on policy initiatives and technology developments, as well as the opportunity to make valuable new contacts and grow your business.

In 2014, Clean Energy Week’s engaging two-day conference program, which attracts high-level speakers from across government, industry and the globe, will begin in a central location at Sydney’s Doltone House.

Tuesday 22 & Wednesday 23 July, 9am–5pm

Doltone House, Darling Island Wharf, Pyrmont, NSW

Full program here | Registration and prices

 

Laura Eadie is appearing in the Storage session, 23 July 1.30–3.00pm

This session will focus on developing the storage industry and rethinking the death spiral. As small and large scale energy storage technologies become more cost effective there are some in the clean energy industry that are predicting the death of the centralised grid as households and businesses embrace self-sufficiency. While the economic models underpinning the ‘death spiral’ predictions might well be reasonable, there are other factors to consider, such as consumer psychology and the opportunity cost of abandoning the grid as a technology platform for innovation. By reconceptualising the role of the grid and the needs of electricity consumers we can sketch out an alternative vision for the future of electricity supply – one that has a central role for storage in the grid, not as an alternative to it.

The Conversation | 3 July 2014

Getting more bang for public bucks: is the ‘efficiency dividend’ efficient?

Research director of CPD’s Public Service Research Program Chris Stone recently contributed an article to The Conversation which questioned the effectiveness of the ‘efficiency dividend’ mechanism for promoting better value from public services. In this article, he analyses and seeks to clarify some of the ideas underpinning its use.

Introduced by Bob Hawke’s ALP government in 1987, the ‘efficiency dividend’ has the stated aim of dictating an ideal rate of return from government departments, in terms of service delivery outputs against resource inputs, although this article in line with various recent commentary, characterises it as a ‘blunt instrument’.

The mechanism has nonetheless continued to be a prominent factor for successive governments including the current one:

The efficiency dividend is the most significant initiative in May’s budget for driving more efficient government operations.

Chris argues that proponents of the dividend need to include other important and widely-accepted definitions of efficiency above and beyond ‘technical’ efficiency (which is achieved simply when ‘the same results are obtained from fewer resources’).

 

Read the full article on the Conversation.edu.au

 

Help CPD find real ways to build a strong and effective public sector! 

 

The Canberra Times | 1 July 2014

Excerpt from CPD’s False Economies report series…

An extract from CPD’s recently compilation False economies: unpacking public service efficiency was published in the July ’Public sector informant’ column of The Canberra Times. Columnist Markus Mannheim chose to highlight insights by CPD Public Service Research Program research director Christopher Stone, into the need to shift the budget debate to serious discussions on the role of government. The excerpt also points to some negative consequences of reducing public sector capacity – especially where more effective strategies to drive efficiency exist.

 

Read the excerpt in The Canberra Times here

Read more about the False Economies report series

 

 

Help CPD research better ways to create a strong and effective public sector!