BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:
When and How to Share Responsibility
for Meeting the Big Challenges

The Australian community is vastly different in the 21st Century than in the 20th, with vastly different expectations. Drivers for change include accelerating technological developments, rapidly changing demographics, new international powers and connections, and global environmental concerns. One of the key impacts has been the realization that governments and their agencies cannot work on their own.

For a decade or more we have been talking about, and experimenting with, ways to respond to these pressures through networks and partnerships, third-party service delivery, consultation and collaboration, community involvement and control, mutual responsibility and empowerment. What is happening in practice and what have we learned? What will the next generation public sector look like if it is to be successful? Is a new level of shared responsibility likely to emerge in order to identify and meet community objectives? If so, how will those involved be held accountable? What will be the role of governments, individuals, community organizations and business?

The conference will focus on three key sub-themes:

Responsibilities

• Individuals and families have many rights and responsibilities. Have we got the balance right between public and private responsibilities? Is it possible for citizens to take more responsibility, and should governments put more onus on individuals and families?
• What is the role of government in explaining and promoting individual and family responsibilities? What have we learned about the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns? How can individuals effectively contribute to policy on public responsibilities?
• What does ‘citizen-controlled services’ entail? What opportunities does new technology offer? What infrastructure is needed? Are there risks for equity or other policy objectives?

Inter-Governmental Frameworks

• Are the three layers of government in Australia really capable of sharing? How are the new COAG arrangements going? Are there examples of innovations? Are new cooperative structures emerging at regional or local levels? What more needs to be done to improve cooperation?
• What new skills and behaviours are needed to make cooperation effective? Should we be developing a common set of values across all levels of government? Are new career paths emerging? What is needed to improve international linkages?
• How can technology support inter-governmental frameworks? What is the future of government portals? Where are national standards in technology needed to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness, and how should these be developed and agreed?

Service Delivery

• What does the community sector need from government if its role in delivering public services is to be optimized? What is the sector likely to look like in the future? How can it partner with government yet retain its independence and its (charitable) identity?
• When are different approaches to using community and business organizations to deliver public services most appropriate? When are specialist service delivery agencies most likely to be effective? What are the risks involved in different approaches and how best are they managed? What might the emerging model look like?
• What will be the impact of new technologies? What opportunities might the National Broadband Network offer? What infrastructure is likely to be needed to support service delivery by a mix of service providers? Who should own the infrastructure? What principles and standards are likely to be required?

These three sub themes form the basis of the 2010 IPAA National Conference. The Conference will examine how these three sub themes will be explored in concurrent sessions, with case examples and analytical papers to support informed discussion amongst conference participants. All sessions will involve both academics and practitioners, and include people with experience at different levels of government and in both the community and business sectors.