Achieving improvements in economic transitions: The Australian experience
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230150310 |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Author | John S. Dawkins |
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
AND
DEVELOPMENT, VOL.
15,237-244 (1995)
Achieving improvements in economic transitions:
the Australian experience
JOHN
S.
DAWKINS
Australia
INTRODUCTION
Change is not optional for governments in today’s world. The challenge is to
understand that fact, to analyse the nature of the changes occurring in the
environment in which governments have to operate and to adapt one’s own
institutions and practices accordingly. Clever, or perhaps lucky, governments and
public services will adapt to the impending changes rather than those that have just
happened. Although the title of this article relates to economic transitions, it is not
realistic to separate economic, social and political progress in the context of the
reform of government; that certainly has not been Australia’s experience.
The challenges facing my country since
I
first became a government minister in
1983 have parallels in many, if not most, of the commonwealth nations. This article
describes some
of
those challenges, how we tackled them and where we hope to
go
in
the future. This approach is not because Australia can be held up as
a
model for
others to copy, but out of a belief that, while individual circumstances may differ, the
general theme or direction of reform tends to be similar.
Outsiders tend to see Australia as a very fortunate country, blessed with great
natural wealth,
a
wonderful climate and stable democratic institutions. For much of
our short post-colonial history that has been a fair picture. We grew all, or nearly all,
our own food. We sold wool, wheat, minerals and other primary products to what
seemed insatiable overseas markets. We were part of the British Empire, and later
the Commonwealth of Nations, with all the advantages that could bring to a
predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon nation with few security problems because of our
geographical distance from major population centres.
Our institutions reflected these comfortable facts. We established high levels of
protection for our manufactured foods. We were, and are, a federation with much of
the inefficiency that implies. And our central government departments and systems,
while efficient by the standards of the time, and blessedly free of corruption and
nepotism, were rigid and process driven.
In the post-war years, and particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, we failed to
understand that the world was changing, and that the time when we could rely on the
rest of the world beating a path to our door to purchase our primary products was
John
S.
Dawkins
is
former Australian Treasurer,
1st
Floor,
111
Alinga
Street,
Canberra, ACT
2601,
Australia.
CCC
0271-2075/95/030237-08
0
1995
by
John
Wiley
&
Sons,
Ltd.
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