ABC Matter of Fact with Stan Grant: Are We Well Governed?

Director of the UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Professor Roberta Ryan, appeared alongside Tony Shepherd and Jill Sheppard on the ABC’s Matter of Fact with Stan Grant on 5 March 2018.

The segment titled ‘Are we well governed?’ discussed whether the makeup of the Australian government means that the Australian society is over governed, and the potential ways of overcoming this. 

The panel looked into the power of a strong government in substantially improving the responsibility of each of the three tiers of government, and the benefits of creating a responsive government closer to where people actually are. They also discussed what creating more government bodies would mean in practice, and how it would affect existing power as well as create extra costs for the government.

Professor Ryan provided her insights into the local government sector and how local governments are usually seen as more relevant than state governments in overseeing and governing communal issues. She also touched on the power of local governments in delivering services that are responsive to the needs of local communities.

Tony Shepherd, Chair of the Abbott Government Commission of Audit and Jill Sheppard, Lecturer in politics at the Australian National University, also provided insights into the advantages of an operative arrangement between states and the Commonwealth government as well as looking deeper into what level of government has responsibility over what.

The panel also touched on the lack of clarity and alignment of the government sector and the importance of uniformity in alleviating this.

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Watch the full episode (26) online.

Note: The segment starts at the 10 minute mark.