A public service for the public good

“Public servants are experts in their field, empowered to give frank and fearless advice” - Pillar 8: A thriving democracy, vision for an Australia reMADE

A thriving democracy requires that our democratic institutions are oriented to serve the public good.

Imagine if the purpose of our public services was to ensure that we all had what we needed to care and be cared for, to connect with people and place, and to contribute locally and nationally to our communities.

Imagine being confident that our bureaucracy ensured people were truly seen for their needs, that decisions were made for the long-term and communities had real agency in that decision-making.

Imagine if our relationship with government was not just at the polling booth, or begging for help from Centrelink… What if government wasn’t a force that happened to us, but a partner to collaborate with?

And imagine if… in the process of reforming the public service… the public played a key part?

The moment

1. We are seeing very publicly the devastating impacts of a public service gone wrong (think Robodebt and the PwC/Big Consulting debacle). 

2. We have a country at increasing risk of social, economic and environmental disruption. Preliminary findings in our work on Care through Disaster suggest that to face the challenges ahead we need to remake the relationship between community and the state and to understand just what it is that we want government to do.

3. We have a government and a Public Service Commissioner ready and willing to reform the public service (at the very least they are acknowledging the value of the independent 2018 Thodey Review of the public service in their reform processes).

4. We have a public eager to participate and take responsibility to truly collaborate (see our work on the public good).

We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Associate Professor Dr Russell Ayres from the University of Canberra, and financially supported by Mannifera as we work with public servants, citizens and civil society to remake the public service for the public good. As a part of this work we will be hosting:

• A series of conversations connecting civil society with the public service and the government's own reform process;

• Community conversations inviting members of the public to help reimagine what the public service can be;

• Facilitated conversations within organisations, so you can approach these questions in ways that are most relevant to your work and expertise.

More information and inspiration

Our public good project builds on the back of our report - “Reclaiming our Purpose: It’s time to talk about the public good”.