myAIPM‘Good policy processes result in better outcomes’:
Think tanks rate decision-making processes behind 20 government policies
Shannon Jenkins | The Mandarin
"New research conducted by two ideologically opposed think tanks has shown that it is possible for evidence-based policy making in government to be separate from politics, with the think tanks praising the processes behind the Queensland government’s Personalised Transport Ombudsman and the commonwealth’s My Health Record.
The independent research involved the right-leaning Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and the left-leaning Per Capita Australia jointly selecting 20 federal and state government policies.
The think tanks then separately tested the cases against 10 attributes of good decision-making, as identified by professor of public administration Kenneth Wiltshire. Their scores were based on whether the legislated policies had been well formulated, as opposed to whether they were ‘good’ or ‘bad’ policies.
However, Wiltshire noted that “good policy processes result in better outcomes than decisions made without a strong evidence base and close consultation with stakeholders”.
An improvement since last year’s analysis, nine cases received solid scores (between 7 and 9.5), nine received mediocre scores (between 5 and 6.5), and two received unacceptable scores (below 5.0).
The think tanks agreed that the policy which came closest to an ideal decision-making process was the Queensland government’s Personalised Transport Ombudsman, which, when appointed, will deal with the taxi and rideshare industry. The case scored 9.5, and was closely followed by the commonwealth’s My Health Record, which scored 9.
The cases with the lowest scores were the federal government’s repeal of the medevac law and the Victorian government’s free TAFE provisions, which scored 3.0 and 3.5 respectively."
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‘Good policy processes result in better outcomes’: Think tanks rate decision-making processes behind 20 government policies, Shannon Jenkins, The Mandarin, 2020