The Good Oil by Rod Brown *
Andrew Podger retired last month as the Public Service Commissioner – around 35 years service, former head of Health, Housing and Regional Development etc. Normally farewell speeches from these folk are pretty tame. But on this occasion he gave an almighty spray to his brethren – some public servants are ‘too concerned to please’ and they have served partisan government interests ‘by failing to keep proper notes, destroying diaries, and ratcheting up security classifications of documents’.
He added that he was uneasy about senior public servants and military officers continuing to maintain in the Parliament the possibility that children were thrown overboard from the Tampa weeks after Air Vice Marshal Houston’s advice was given, and known to be given’. (Note the final little barb?)
He also expressed his unease about public servants trying to hide their legal authority and responsibility, and to refuse to hear requests for asylum. This is as frank as you’ll get from a departing PSC Commissioner, and Podger said it well. After all, a mischievous Defence Minister did change the course of Australian history.
Policy research – not just Canberra’s business
While Andrew Podger’s comments were continuing headlines in Canberra press, he also served up some other little gems. For example, he suggested that departments are not only publishing less policy research, but are conducting less. He conceded that some of the slack is being picked up by the Productivity Commission and the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare.
His concern about the gap is well placed. There has been a slow rundown of research capability – the classic case is the disappearance of the Bureau of Industry Economics, while the Productivity Commission and Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics (ABARE) lack their former zest.
What’s this got to do with Local Government? Nothing directly perhaps, but I believe there is scope for regional universities to orient some of their academic research into policy research, make themselves more relevant, and help fill the gap in Canberra.
But the tricky bit is that policy research requires people with policy knowledge, feel and credibility back in Canberra.
This might be stretching things but, as a hypothetical example, could, say a university in the northern climes, develop national expertise in health policy as it relates to rural Australia? Such a university might already have a track record in tropical health, as well as significant rural and Indigenous health issues in its midst.
Enter Andrew Podger who is relatively young and has an ongoing interest in public health. Put a good team around him, including a few other Canberra retirees looking for an attractive place to work in winter. They could in fact write a submission to the Feds for funding for their part time positions at the regional university!
Quick! $50 million for regulation reduction
Yes, that’s right! As some readers might know, AusIndustry has a $50 million program for Local Government to reduce the regulatory burden on SMEs and especially homebased businesses.
A few catches:
- Much of the problem is at the State Government level.
- There is only one funding round. It is competitive, and it closes 31 August – so by the time you read this, you have about two weeks to get organised.
- Many smaller Councils are probably not equipped to move quickly enough.
We are currently pulling together consortia to bid for these grants. Please contact me ASAP if you are interested!
McGauran – about time
Peter McGauran’s ascendancy to the Federal Cabinet is long overdue. He is smart, articulate and personable, and has a solid background to handle the job as Minister for Agriculture. In a recent TV interview, he lamented the fact that the EC agriculture sector derives 32 per cent of its income via government schemes, while the ratio is a running somewhere around 25 per cent in the USA and only four per cent in Australia.
McGauran said that ABARE, his main research agency, would be undertaking research on the extent to which government subsidies are contributing to the significant rise in the level of imported foodstuffs on our supermarket shelves – makeup of the imported foodstuffs, where it comes from, and the pricing mechanisms.
This research is long overdue. Perhaps new data will at least surely not change the foreign mindsets. But the Government’s anti-dumping policy is pretty toothless. However, Minister McGauran also said that a lot more can be done in enlisting the support of consumers, especially by way of having better country of origin labelling – so they know immediately they are making a choice between an imported or an Australian product.
He also said that ‘we can bring pressure to bear on the supermarkets and the large retail chains to live up to their slogans and their advertising of Australianism.’ Now you’re talking Peter! Could the Howard Government reintroduce a Buy Australia campaign? Can the Australian consumer step into the debate, and support locally owned growers and food producers?
Good luck Minister McGauran – we await with interest.
Fels candidate for Paris
Professor Alan Fels (ex ACCC and Trade Practices Commission) is one of six candidates for the post of Secretary General of the OECD, to replace the Canadian Donald Johnson. No doubt Treasurer Costello would have been a big supporter. Fels’ Liberal Party connections date back to the Nedlands Western Australian branch in the 1960s. It’s all on the OECD web site – www.oecd.org
* Rod Brown’s Canberra based consultancy group, Australian Project Developments Pty Ltd, specialises in industry/regional development and government liaison. For further information telephone (02) 6231 7261 or email apd@orac.net.au
