After years of hearing about what governments can’t do, shouldn’t do, or will inevitably stuff up if they try, it’s time to recapture a vision of the positive role of government, and put forward an agenda for public sector reform in the 21st century. At the heart of this vision should be a public service that works in cooperation with citizens to build a fair, sustainable and democratic society.

The CPD Public Service Program aims to develop a robust knowledge base about the state of the public service: its funding and capacity; performance in delivering community services; and attitudes toward and expectations of the Australian Public Service. Click here to read more.

CPD thanks the CPSU, the Becher Foundation and Slater & Gordon for their support of this program.

GovCampNSW | Sydney, November 19

    GovCamp is an open, ‘unconference’ style discussion format and aims to simply provide a space to share ideas ranging from eGov, Gov 2.0 and opengov to innovation for public sector resilience.  GovCampNSW is an invitation to be part of an emerging conversation, that may inspire and shape new opportunities for innovation in government in Sydney, in NSW and beyond. It is an opportunity to talk with a mix of people – from inside … more

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | UK’s public sector reforms favour private sector, ‘Big Society’ reforms spread to Eurozone and Canada

UK’s Public services white paper favours private sector, says UK’s Trades Union Congress > Publishing its response to the coalition’s Open public services white paper today, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) says that there is a gap between the paper’s Big Society ideals and the reality of greater private sector involvement. The TUC says that voluntary sector organisations lost out in an early example of the government’s competition plans. Thirty-five of the 40 main contracts … more

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | NZ citizens happy with public services, evidence reveals UK’s public services are breaking down and UK charities are flailing

There’s little charity in the Work Programme > Charities are losing out on contracts to get people into jobs through the government’s Work Programme, and vulnerable jobseekers are being sidelined. Two separate surveys published this week by two voluntary sector umbrella groups, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Acevo) and London Voluntary Services Council (LVSC), reveal that charity confidence in WP is at a pitifully low ebb, just four months into the scheme.  Some … more

 

CPD at Aprecon

                CPD’s public service research team enjoyed participating in ‘People First’ – the 12th Regional Asia Pacific Aprecon public service conference, spruiking our research and publications.  We had interesting discussions with international delegates from the Asia Pacific region on how public service trends are effecting their communities. We were intrigued to hear that, despite the diversity of social contexts that delegates come from, they spoke of many of … more

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | UK public funding travelling in and out of loopholes and US county to legalise Domestic Violence

Youth clubs’ rescue ‘vindicates Big Society idea’ > UK government cuts funding to youth community services,  after community outrage and hours of workers’ time and efforts to apply for funding, UK Conservative government now condescends to to fund youth community services through ‘Big Society Public sector cuts: ‘I had to sack a third of my staff’ > What does it feel like to to have to make cuts of 30% in public services and tell … more

Visualisation of CPD’s ‘State of the Public Service’ report

Following the launch of CPD’s ‘State of the Australian Public Service’ report, we convened roundtable discussions in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. The presentation shared with roundtable participants is now available here in a user-friendly visual format. (Once the page loads, click on ‘more’ then choose ‘autoplay’ or ‘fullscreen’.)                                          

 

James Whelan | Public Sector Myths Dispelled

CPD’s public service program director James Whelan talks with Business Spectator about our recent State of the Australian Public Service Alternative Report. Public sector cutbacks are an easy political gain, until the services they provided disappear. What lies behind the apparent dichotomy between what the press and politicians say and what the public think?  Click here to listen to the interview in full.                         … more

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Italians protest to protect public service, Indian province promotes quality public services and UK rural communities start to suffer the lack of core public services.

Exclusive: Rural life at ‘tipping point’ as cuts slash services > A study, by consultancy firm Rural Innovation, concludes that there is “no longer scope to continually pare down key public services” in the face of spending cuts and that the Big Society must be given an opportunity to take control. Big society urban farming project goes hi-tech > After winning a regeneration grant from Hackney council, a former shelter for domestic abuse victims has … more

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Successful sustainable government programs, Discussions on the role of government to monitor corporate behaviour

Banmujer: Benefitting Over 300,000 Venezuelan Families Since 2001 > One of Venezuela’s most important public institutions created as a government run bank with the specific purpose of funding socio-productive business initiatives to assist impoverished women through micro- credit lending celebrated its 10-year anniversary last week. Banking on the Big Society > Social entrepreneurs have been lionised for a decade, but the downside is that they are now expected to shoulder a growing share of society’s … more