Presentation by remoteFOCUS Director Dr. Bruce Walker. May 22nd 2012. For more, visit: http://www.desertknowledgecommons.net/Conversations/remoteFOCUS

1. remoteFOCUS
Having your Say:
Innovations in Governance in Remote
Australia
Presentation to
Desert Knowledge Virtual Meeting Place
Desert Innovation Festival – Australian Innovation Festival
Dr Bruce Walker
Project Director
remoteFOCUS Project
May 2012

2. Remote Australia
2

3. Characteristics of Remote Australia
Geography
Demography
Economy
Social
3

4. Characteristics of Remote Australia
Variable Climate
Geography •Extremes of weather
•Unpredictability
Patchy Resources
•Low soil fertility
Demography •Unreliable water
•Natural resource enclaves
Under-capitalised Infrastructure
•Skewed investments link to global
Economy economy
Settlement Pattern
•Determined for a past era
•Impacted by technology and
government policy
Social
4

5. Characteristics of Remote Australia
Sparse mobile population
•Great distance to economic and
Geography political centres
•Government has prominent role
FIFO
•Change to resource sector business
model
Demography •Tourism competes with mining
•Increasing expatriate outlook
•Not tuned to local diversity
Small Business Sector
•Significant contribution to local
Economy employment
Outmigration of Young People
Long Term Resident Population of
Aboriginal People
•Current policy changes causing
Social change and movement
5

6. Characteristics of Remote Australia
• Historically minerals, cattle, tourism
Geography create wealth
• Wealth production not matched by
investment in local labour or
communities
• Productivity is lower
Demography • Chronic underinvestment in public
services
• Benefits accrue in larger urban centres
like Perth
Remote Australia is on the periphery of
Economy Australian democracy.
It is characterised by a dual economy and
absence of a market that might deliver
outcomes without government
Social interventions.
6

7. Characteristics of Remote Australia
Geography • local institutions are being
overwhelmed
• many are unsuited to the
Demography tasks they confront
• they are unable to create
durable and equitable
Economy arrangements to manage
conflict, deliver services or
sponsor entrepreneurial
activity
Social
7

8. Five Propositions:
1
Remote Australia confronts extraordinarily diverse and complex local realities. Common
issues that are globally familiar:
Common to regions where people reside remote from centres of economic & political
power but are facing rapid social and economic change
2 Present governance arrangements are not well attuned to the circumstances that are
emerging in remote Australia and public policy has limited influence
3
There are ways of remedying these governance issues, but the more promising prospects
involve greater degrees—and varying patterns—of decentralised governance and
community engagement
4 Normal legislative politics are unlikely to result in structural reforms.
Special purpose cross-party initiatives, political commitment and support from business,
professional and community organisations is required
5
In the absence of a narrative that embraces micro economic reform and establishes the
national interest in remote Australia, and a settlement pattern that supports that national
interest, nothing is going to change 8
8

9. Five things people in remote Australia
want but don’t get:
1. a say in decisions that affect them
2. equitable and sustainable financial flows
3. better services and a locally responsive public
service
4. local control and accountability where possible;
5. inclusion in the greater Australian narrative.
9

10. What Governments Say:
Dept Finance
Productivity Commission
MAC Reports
ANAO
9 Reviews of
Whole of Government
FaHCSIA
WA Economic Audit
10

11. What Governments Say:
Government intentions proved persistently
impossible to translate into practice
11

12. What Governments Say:
No official body has ever questioned the basic
framework for program delivery or asked whether
governance might itself be a primary contributor to
policy failings.
12

13. What Governments Say:
The systems of government work against change
13

14. International experience:
UK & OECD Reports
• Place based approaches
• Localism Bills
• Innovation Regions
• Experimentalist/ Pragmatist approaches
• Relational contracting and learning by doing
14

15. Why has this happened ?
15

16. Why has this happened ?
30 years of New
Public Management
Reforms
have shaped how governments
• manage the economy,
• deliver services
• commit to public welfare
16

17. Why has this happened ?
30 years of New NPM Reforms
Public Management have had
Reforms
have shaped how governments
• manage the economy,
• very uneven effects in
remote Australia
• deliver services
• commit to public welfare
17

18. Why has this happened ?
30 years of New NPM Reforms
Public Management have led to
Reforms
• a rise in executive power
have shaped how governments
• political administrative
• manage the economy, centralisation
• deliver services • the fragmentation of
government
• commit to public welfare
• problems of accountability
18

19. The present configuration of governance policy
and practice is not working in remote Australia
19

20. In this context there are severe limits to what can
be achieved through better coordination or more
efficient service delivery
20

21. For large parts of remote Australia the notion that the
market will deliver positive outcomes – in services,
settlement patterns, environmental management, and
wider social inclusion – is a fiction
21

22. To resolve ‘wicked’ problems in remote Australia
governments have resorted to whole of government
and strategic intervention approaches
22

23. o rk
t w
ll no
w i
m e
e sa
f th
e o
o r
M
23

24. Six structural dysfunctions erode the capacity
of the present structure of government to
administer remote Australia.
24

25. Six structural dysfunctions erode the capacity
of the present structure of government to
administer remote Australia.
There is not only a
delivery and local engagement gap
but
a profound systemic gap
covering the development of strategies
for remote Australia
25

26. New Governance Principles
The nature and pace of change in remote Australia,
the ongoing contest as people respond and adjust to change
necessitates creation of regional governance structures.
26

27. New Governance Principles
The nature and pace of change in remote Australia,
the ongoing contest as people respond and adjust to change
necessitates creation of regional governance structures.
These structures need to endure over time and be
above the contest
27

28. Lessons for Remote Australia
Economic policy and practice, rather than a single focus on subsidies,
1 welfare and ‘services’, must be at the heart of policy on remote Australia.
28

29. Lessons for Remote Australia
Economic policy and practice, rather than a single focus on subsidies,
1 welfare and ‘services’, must be at the heart of policy on remote Australia.
Government needs to do more than set macro-economic conditions – it
2 needs to be an active partner in business/livelihood with community and
private sector.
29

30. Lessons for Remote Australia
Economic policy and practice, rather than a single focus on subsidies,
1 welfare and ‘services’, must be at the heart of policy on remote Australia.
Government needs to do more than set macro-economic conditions – it
2 needs to be an active partner in business/livelihood with community and
private sector.
Agglomeration, regional integration and regional connectivity are keys
3
to an innovative response.
30

31. Lessons for Remote Australia
Economic policy and practice, rather than a single focus on subsidies,
1 welfare and ‘services’, must be at the heart of policy on remote Australia.
Government needs to do more than set macro-economic conditions – it
2 needs to be an active partner in business/livelihood with community and
private sector.
Agglomeration, regional integration and regional connectivity are keys
3
to an innovative response.
Place centred governance is a precursor to place based initiatives where
4 place centred relates to mandate rather than location.
31

32. Lessons for Remote Australia
Economic policy and practice, rather than a single focus on subsidies,
1 welfare and ‘services’, must be at the heart of policy on remote Australia.
Government needs to do more than set macro-economic conditions – it
2 needs to be an active partner in business/livelihood with community and
private sector.
Agglomeration, regional integration and regional connectivity are keys
3
to an innovative response.
Place centred governance is a precursor to place based initiatives where
4 place centred relates to mandate rather than location.
Government could stimulate capacity in remote Australia through micro-
5 economic reform including adopting more innovative regional and
procurement policies
32

33. Lessons from Remote Australia
It is not clear who, if anyone, is setting the priorities for remote Australia
1
or what those priorities are.
33

34. Lessons from Remote Australia
It is not clear who, if anyone, is setting the priorities for remote Australia
1
or what those priorities are.
Three tiers of government and a series of ad hoc regional arrangements
2 appear to be incapable of resolving both the priorities and the contests
that need to take place around these arrangements.
34

35. Lessons from Remote Australia
It is not clear who, if anyone, is setting the priorities for remote Australia
1
or what those priorities are.
Three tiers of government and a series of ad hoc regional arrangements
2 appear to be incapable of resolving both the priorities and the contests
that need to take place around these arrangements.
The structure and configuration of institutions across remote Australia
3
are largely not ‘custom built’ or fit for their particular purpose.
35

36. Lessons from Remote Australia
It is not clear who, if anyone, is setting the priorities for remote Australia
1
or what those priorities are.
Three tiers of government and a series of ad hoc regional arrangements
2 appear to be incapable of resolving both the priorities and the contests
that need to take place around these arrangements.
The structure and configuration of institutions across remote Australia
3
are largely not ‘custom built’ or fit for their particular purpose.
Consideration of economic circumstances is crucial in establishing
4 priorities in remote Australia. The private sector has been more successful
at working through these issues than government.
36

37. Lessons from Remote Australia
It is not clear who, if anyone, is setting the priorities for remote Australia
1
or what those priorities are.
Three tiers of government and a series of ad hoc regional arrangements
2 appear to be incapable of resolving both the priorities and the contests
that need to take place around these arrangements.
The structure and configuration of institutions across remote Australia
3
are largely not ‘custom built’ or fit for their particular purpose.
Consideration of economic circumstances is crucial in establishing
4 priorities in remote Australia. The private sector has been more successful
at working through these issues than government.
5 Failure to innovate is most marked in the public sector.
37

38. Lessons from Remote Australia
It is not clear who, if anyone, is setting the priorities for remote Australia
1
or what those priorities are.
Three tiers of government and a series of ad hoc regional arrangements
2 appear to be incapable of resolving both the priorities and the contests
that need to take place around these arrangements.
The structure and configuration of institutions across remote Australia
3
are largely not ‘custom built’ or fit for their particular purpose.
Consideration of economic circumstances is crucial in establishing
4 priorities in remote Australia. The private sector has been more successful
at working through these issues than government.
5 Failure to innovate is most marked in the public sector.
The five things people ‘want but don’t get’ contributes to discontent and
6
unhappiness.
38

39. Our Conclusion:
Without innovative systemic change in the way
governments conceive and govern remote Australia;
• there will only be ephemeral improvements that will
not sustain a pattern of governance across the
nation, and
• the consistency of concerns expressed across
remote Australia will not diminish, and
• you will not have a say in decisions that affect you.
39

40. To receive a copy of the report, join the
remoteFOCUS conversation at
www.desertknowledgecommons.net
40