Institute of Public Administration Australia (ACT) Limited

Dr Trish Mercer, Andrew Tongue PSM and Fiona Barbaro PSM return to complete your policy essentials class with a focus on the mystical policy window, the art of foresight, and the power of evaluation.

In today’s complex and fast-moving environment, opportunities to introduce a policy can be tricky to identify. Dr Trish Mercer from the Australian National University, experienced former public servant Andrew Tongue PSM, and Fiona Barbaro PSM from the ACT Government tell us how to ensure you’re ready when the policy window opens.

The panel also dives into why foresight is a crucial, yet underused skill, and how to get it right to create policies and bureaucracies that are made to last. We’ll also get into why evaluation needs to be more than an afterthought, and our guests recommend their best resources for aspiring policy experts.

Discussed in this episode:

• tuning into ministers’ values and priorities
• keeping on top of ‘hot’ issues
• partnering with communities
• how to grow professional relationships
• the importance of foresight to build policy narratives
• upgrading delivery systems to match communities’ needs
• building policy evaluation into policy design
• why policymakers should draw on successes from across local, state and federal levels.

Shownotes

• The policy window | APS Academy
• Rationality and Modernity | Max Weber
• Publications, resources, FAQs | Commonwealth Ombudsman
• Publications | ACT Ombudsman
• The Mandarin
• Grattan Institute
• James Martin Institute for Public Policy
• Australian Government Consulting
• Muddling through | APS Academy
• The Bridge | ANZSOG