The APS is not best-placed to meet growing expectations for government services to be delivered in an integrated and individualised fashion. Technological advances, and a renewed focus on outcomes and impacts rather than inputs and process, present an opportunity to rethink how the APS designs and delivers government services.
Survey now closed
What we think is needed
- A service-wide ambition to ensure people can access seamless and personalised services and support irrespective of which agency, portfolio and ultimately government is responsible for its provision.
- Close links between Commonwealth service providers (for example, social, health, employment, immigration and education) and greater collaboration with states and territories on joined up service delivery.
- New ways of working with families, communities, non-government providers and other partners to enable better social outcomes – including through wrap-around case management and place-based approaches.
- Connected digital platforms, with the requisite privacy protections, to streamline services and focus them where they are most needed.
- Agencies empowered and accountable for continuous improvement of customer satisfaction with key government services and support.
What is shaping our thinking
- The analysis and findings of ANZSOG papers ‘Delivering local solutions’ by Catherine Althaus and Carmel McGregor and ‘Working with other jurisdictions’ by Ben Rimmer, Cheryl Saunders and Michael Crommelin.
- The Government’s Digital Transformation Strategy, especially the priority that “government is easy to deal with by 2025”.
- Evidence from other jurisdictions that streamlining the user’s end-to-end journey, through human-centred design and digitisation, significantly improves experience while reducing costs.
- The fact that Australia’s most pressing public policy challenges increasingly manifest at the boundaries of Commonwealth and state responsibilities, in areas such as health, education, environment and energy.
- Reflections on how public servants from all levels of government work together in emergencies or crises, placing local communities at the centre, with those responsible liberated to challenge traditional processes, frame problems and identity solutions cooperatively, and take calculated risks.
What we are still exploring
- Options for structural change to drive coordination and alignment of service delivery.
- Potential to pilot joint Commonwealth and state delivery arrangements for particular services and/or regions.
Comments
Thu, 02 May 2019
Collaboration at local, state and federal levels of delivery will facilitate identification and trial of solutions to the issue which manifest. Ongoing liaison with those within the community and other sectors is also crucial so that new ways of working can be adjusted to improve outcomes. Collective impact initiatives such as the Bourke Reinvestment initiative and Opportunity Child May provide some examples of models whcich can be utilised. A key strength of the APS is the ability to convene those from other sectors and the community. Acknowledging and utilising this strength should be key to any model.
Wed, 01 May 2019
The Commonwealth may need to walk before it can run on this issue. After reading a sample of the submissions to this Review, I was struck by the large number of comments coming from Centrelink staff (and also, but less frequently, from tax officers and customers) about low quality services being provided to clients, poor treatment of staff, use of under skilled contractors and unreliable IT. Neither the elected government nor the APS can afford to have a large dysfunctional interface with the public as implied by these comments. Sometimes, these sort of complaints refer to issues related to particular individuals, sometimes they reflect the unfortunate impact on workers of otherwise positive structural change and sometimes they relate to systemic and fixable administrative and funding issues that desperately need addressing. I think finding out whether we have a problem of the latter kind should be one of the highest priorities for this Review.
Tue, 23 Apr 2019
Establish true, and genuine partnerships across all layers of government and private sector when it comes to designing services for citizens. Each will bring their own element of expertise and 'best of breed' - be it designing screens for an online application of some kind, or an app for a mobile device. Keep the citizen's needs and experience centric to all that is done, and each member partnering in co-design will bring a different perspective to the table. A powerful partnership will be productive and rewarding.
Mon, 01 Apr 2019
Agencies that need to be spread out across the country for on the ground access should have that feature, moving agencies that do not need to be location specific just to "boost an economy" is a falsehood. Hope to see some commonsense decisions made about what agencies can support the country from remote towns. This idea that Canberra is somehow a melting pot of the nations public servants is proven incorrect time after time however the comments about a "Canberra Bubble" etc do not help
Mon, 01 Apr 2019
I think this priority would be strengthened with some additional wording about place based policy. any nuancing of services or activities based upon location whould be based upon the fact that there is a point of difference in the location which requires a change to the design for that location.
The other thing that is really important here is the collection of data, particularly geo-locational data and the usage of this data for both design and evaluation. This would enable Government to make better place-based decisions on a wide range of fronts - in ther same way that the retail sector in particular has pioneered the use of place-based big data analytics to guide purchase and stocking decisions for different locations.
Thu, 28 Mar 2019
It's not just service delivery that needs whole of government approaches. It's also policy development. The only mechanism we have to work across agencies on getting good policy solutions is to set up taskforces or inter-government committees. It's incredible how much resistance I've seen to establish a taskforce - ownership culture, resourcing constraints and unimaginative structures make this unattractive. Yet the public expect well thought through, holistic, policy solutions.
Wed, 27 Mar 2019
Currently there is minimal case management used in delivering government services. Policy and legislation limits release of personal information to other government and non government agencies. An improved information sharing system/process needs to be created and used to assist Citizens access assistance in a timely manner. The current legislation and policy is risk adverse and contributes to inefficient and unproductive siloing of information. Wholistic, Government led co - ordinated case management to assist vulnerable community members will contribute to improved citizen experience. Reforming privacy and improving information sharing within agencies will enable better wrap around servicing for citizens.
Tue, 26 Mar 2019
Have a scheme whereby you are required to work in a different agency for a certain amount of time. Volunteers can nominate to get onto this scheme, and then every year they are committed to say work for a month or two in a different agency. This will provide people with first hand knowledge of challenges faced by each agency. Furthermore it will create networking opportunities and contacts between agencies. It could even be a swap arrangement, whereby a person in Health at a certain APS level swaps with another agency of the same APS level. They then are committed to train each other their respective roles. The volunteers can opt out at any stage.
Fri, 22 Mar 2019
This needs to be supported by legislative frameworks that are permissive (not prohibitive) for information sharing and resourcing that recognises the upfront effort and investment to design, test and implement integrated solutions underpinned by modern technology.
Thu, 21 Mar 2019
This is a really important part of improving the quality of our advice and ensuring that the APS's policy and program proposals are robust, evidence-based, informed by genuine engagement and implemented in a true partnership. My suggestion is that there may be an opportunity here to an embed an approach along the lines of the IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum throughout the APS, so that a concerted effort towards the empowerment end of the spectrum is part of our BAU.