John Howard has won the Federal elections in Australia. He was previously dubbed with the epithet of surviving a triple bypass in honour of his survival in the political wilderness before a recall to the highest office in the land.
This is Howard's fourth term in office (perhaps something deserving of a change to his being called the recipient of a quadruple bypass?).
Having also gained control of the Senate as well as the House of Representatives it is likely that all of the legislation that he has wanted to push through the parliament, that has previously been blocked in the upper house, will now be enacted and promulgated when the new senators take their seats in the middle of 2005. This may or may not augur well for Australia. Some of the legislation has been extremely controversial and perceived to be very pro big business and hostile to more socialist perspectives.
In an early insight into what may change in the world of work and business the Prime Minister has just announced the creation of a new "SUPER" ministry called the Department of Human Services. This will include 6 agencies providing services to Australian taxpayers. The agencies are: Centrelink (otherwise known as the Commonwealth Service Delivery Agency); Health Insurance Commission; Child Support Agency, Health Services Australia; Commonwealth Rehabilitation Services and Australian Hearing.
These agencies currently pay out something like A$80 billion per annum in one form of support or another. Thus, the new Minister, Joe Hockey will be graduating from his former post as Minister for Small Business and Tourism to a much larger 'business' responsibility.
This new department will be contained within the Finance portfolio and as such is likely to be appropriately financed, but also made more accountable for outcomes. This conclusion is arrived at from a number of things that the Prime Minister has stated in his announcement and in the selection of the Secretary for this new "Super" department.
Mr Howard said: "Immediate priorities will include improving the flow of clients from Centrelink to the Job Network; increasing the speed with which injured employees are referred for assessment, intervention and rehabilitation support; and further developing a client-focussed participation network across government agencies. The new Department will ensure that the development and delivery of government services is placed under strong ministerial control with clear lines of responsibility through the Secretary." He then appointed the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Patricia Scott as the new Secretary.
By placing these agencies under the Finance portfolio and by locating one of his own Department's senior staffers into the position of the Secretary, the Prime Minister may be signalling a crack down on the administration of these agencies. Certainly there is considerable effort being placed into ensuring that: "Existing boards will continue to provide advice to the Minister with the aim of establishing a single Advisory Board on Human Services by early next year."
There are also likely to be changes at the top among the current senior administrators in charge of the agencies that are being amalgamated. This is made clear in the following reference by the PM in his media release on the subject of Appointments of Secretaries: "A number of distinguished public servants are retiring or moving on to new positions; . . ."
One wonders what will become of the current crop of SES officers who have only recently been appointed to their new positions in a number of these agencies.
One can also speculate on whether there will be changes to corporate logos and names. Will there be new departmental structure requiring yet another re-organisation back into Divisions and Branches and Directorates? Will there be a bloody or bloodless integration of the staff members in the various agencies with a view to productivity savings? Will there be major additional expenditures required to change the current set of computer systems in the various agencies so that they can talk to each other?
Who knows?
At this point all that is clear is that there will be yet another major process of change in each of the agencies which is unlikely to be resolved before the end of 2005 and during this time, the much vaunted improvements of service delivery which are intended as the outcome of the changes, may not improve much.
One item that piques particular interest is the change in the description of the people who are entitled to the services which are being amalgamated. In the past 8 years there has been an emphasis on classifying these groups as 'customers' - the PMs recent announcement has labelled them as 'clients' once again.
Does this mean a 'back to the future' outcome in these organisations.
Interesting times ahead - that is for sure
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