Conferences

Summary

The inaugural Policy Development, Implementation and Evaluation Forum will take a look at the policy process, from development to evaluation.  It will highlight key issues such as the use of evidence in policy-making, policy implementation, how to evaluate policy and the issue of stakeholder management.

Endorsed by:

Centre for Policy Development

Learning Objectives

DEVELOP effective policy through the use of evidence

IMPLEMENT policy efficiently and effectively

EVALUATE strategic policy outcomes and assess policy success

USE “facts not fads” to create effective evidence-based policy

BENCHMARK the difficulty of policy implementation

INVESTIGATE the interplay between governments associated with the Murray-Darling Basin

LEARN how to “sell” your policy options to your Minister

EXPLORE how to effectively conduct stakeholder consultation

ASSESS the limitations of research in policy development

TRANSLATE policy from a paper theory to a practical process

MONITOR and MEASURE policy performance

Speakers

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary, Department of Immigration and Citizenship

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Russell James, Assistant Secretary, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

Lynne Curran, Group Manager, Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Damian Stevens, Manager, Broadband Infrastructure Policy, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy

Michelle Pawley, Adviser, Strategy and Delivery Division, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

STATE GOVERNMENT

Penny Armytage, Secretary, Department of Justice, Victoria

Sarah Byrne, Executive Director, Legislation and Policy Branch, Department of Justice and Community Safety, ACT

Andrew Johnson, Director, Strategic Policy, Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, South Australia

Steve Blume, Manager, Regulation Policy Unit, Economics Branch, Investment and Economics Division, Department of Treasury, ACT

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND BODIES

Peter Harper, Deputy Australian Statistician, Population, Labour, Industry and Environment Statistics Group, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Leo O’Keeffe, Director, Domestic Policy, IP Australia

Kate Hay, National Manager, Murray-Darling Basin Service Delivery Coordination Unit, Centrelink

Dr Matthew Gray, Deputy Director, Research, Australian Institute of Family Studies

EXPERT SPEAKERS

Bruce Ferguson, CEO, Helmsman International Group

Brian Kooyman, Director Global Business, Tracey Brunstrom and Hammond

Miriam Lyons, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Development

Conference Agenda

DAY ONE – 23 MARCH 2009

8:30    Registration

9:00    Opening remarks from the Chair

Bruce Ferguson, Chairman, Helmsman Institute for Program Governance

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

9:10    Keynote Presentation

Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary, Department of Immigration and Citizenship

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

9:50    Understanding Ministerial Objectives

•    Exploring ways to facilitate communication between policy makers and the Minister’s office

•    Avoiding miscommunication within the Department

•    Ensuring that the objectives are met

Penny Armytage, Secretary, Department of Justice, Victoria

10:30    Morning tea

11:00    Case study: Policy development for long-term programs

•    Taking a look at the development of Broadband Infrastructure Policy

•    Developing policy with long-term goals

•    Ensuring that long-term policy is flexible to allow for innovation and amendments

•    How to reconcile long-term and short-term policy goals

Damian Stevens, Manager, Broadband Infrastructure Policy, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy

11:40    “Selling” your policy options

•    Recognising the role of public servants in 'selling' policy options to their Ministers

•    Exploring how to compete with external stakeholders, who also have a policy agenda

•    What strategies need to be developed to encourage adoption of your preferred policy option?

•    Presenting a guide to structure, content and presentation for your 'sales pitch'

Steve Blume, Manager, Regulation Policy Unit, Economics Branch, Investment and Economics Division, ACT Department of Treasury

12:20    Luncheon

EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY-MAKING

1:20    Evidence-based policy-making

•    What is evidence-based policy-making?

•    Using “facts not fads” to create effective policy

•    Exploring the process of creating evidence-based policy

Michelle Pawley, Adviser, Strategy and Delivery Division, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

2:00    Case Study: The use of research in policy making

•    Looking at the application of research and statistics to the formulation of policy options

•    Highlighting importance of research within the policy process

•    Exploring the misuse of statistics by policy makers

•    Assessing the limitations of research: when numbers don’t reflect reality

Peter Harper, Deputy Australian Statistician, Population, Labour, Industry & Environment Statistics Group, Australian Bureau of Statistics

2:40    Afternoon tea

3:10    Case Study: Undertaking policy relevant and useful research

•    Exploring how to undertake research that is useful for the development of policy

•    How has the use of research and statistics impacted on the policy development process

Dr Matthew Gray, Deputy Director, Research, Australian Institute of Family Studies

SPOTLIGHT: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

3:50    Case Study: IP Australia and international policy

•    Ensuring Australia’s domestic IP policies conform with international requirements

•    Addressing the measures in place to enforce policy

•    Looking at implementation within IP Australia: how are intellectual property rights protected in the current technological era?

•    How has this impacted on domestic policies?

Leo O’Keeffe, Director, Domestic Policy, IP Australia

4:30    Global Centre for Complex project Management Research Knowledge and Practice

Professor Ron Davison, Research Director, and Jo Spencer, Director of Communications and Partner Relations, ICCPM

5:10    Closing remarks from the Chair

5:15    Close of Day One

DAY TWO – 24 MARCH 2009

9:00    Opening remarks from the Chair

Bruce Ferguson, Chairman, Helmsman Institute for Program Governance

POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

9:10    Setting a department up for implementation success

•    Exploring the typical performance of initiatives across the public and private sectors: how well do they perform?

•    Benchmarking the difficulty of implementation

•    Assessing the department’s ability to implement policy: what can be implemented without risk?

•    Assessing the capabilities needed to implement a policy well

Bruce Ferguson, Chairman, Helmsman Institute for Program Governance

9:50    From paper to practice – policy implementation

•    Translating policy from a paper theory to practical processes

•    Exploring the drivers behind different policy implementation tools

•    What are the limitations of policy implementation?

Brian Kooyman, Director, Global Business, Tracey Brunstrom and Hammond

10:30    Morning tea

POLICY EVALUATION

11:00    A whole of government approach to Indigenous Affairs policy

Lynne Curran, Group Manager, Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

11:40    Case Study: Monitoring policy performance

•    Looking at the ways in which strategic policy outcomes are monitored by the Department

•    How is policy evaluation factored into policy development

•    Outlining the need for policy amendment

•    Addressing common issues with policy monitoring and evaluation

Andrew Johnson, Director, Strategic Policy, Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, South Australian Government

12:20    Luncheon

1:20    Policy reform through legislation amendment

•    Assessing the history of law reform in Australia and its impacts on policy delivery

•    Exploring the circumstances in which policy needs to be amended through law reform

•    When are laws deemed “obsolete”?

Sarah Byrne, Executive Director, Legislation and Policy Branch, Department of Justice and Community Safety ACT

SPOTLIGHT: THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN

2:00    Case Study: Murray-Darling Basin

•    Examining the policy processes associated with managing the Murray-Darling Basin in the recent past and into the future

Russell James, Assistant Secretary, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

2:40    Afternoon tea

STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION

3:10    Case Study: Incorporating stakeholder values

•    Looking at the issue of stakeholder consultation within the Murray-Darling Basic Initiative

•    Addressing the issue of stakeholder collaboration and its importance in the policy development process

•    How to balance the values of stakeholders against political objectives

•    Balancing the needs of the community, businesses, and various governments

•    Exploring common obstacles to successful collaboration

•    How do you measure stakeholder success

Kate Hay, National Manager, Rural, Murray-Darling Basin and Climate Change Branch, Centrelink

3:50    Open source policy-making: using online participation to improve the policy development process

•    Exploring the use of online services in the stakeholder consultation process

•    When are government consultation blogs affective?

•    What is the future of www.australia.gov.au?

•    Examining the outcomes of the 2020 summit online

•    Presenting case studies from the UK’s Ofcom, Queensland’s Get Involved program, and New Zealand’s Police Act Wiki

Miriam Lyons, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Development

4:30    Closing remarks from the Chair

4:40    Close of Conference

Workshop Agenda

DAY THREE – 25 MARCH 2009

WORKSHOP A: How to align ‘good policy’ and ‘good politics’ for policy implementation success

8:30    Registration

9:00    Start of Workshop A

It is essential for public service practitioners to appreciate these dimensions in developing policy options, tendering advice, implementing policy and in evaluating policy ‘success.’

Participants will be provided with checklists for distinguishing and assessing ‘good policy’ and ‘good politics’ and case studies will highlight some of the challenges and limitations confronting practitioners in aligning ‘good policy’ with ‘good politics’ in policy development.

Key topics:

•    The realities of policy development and implementation

•    Defining ‘good policy’ and ‘good politics’

•    Alignment for of ‘good policy’ and ‘good politics’ for successful policy implementation

•    Practitioner roles, dilemmas and strategies – how far do you go?

12:00    End of Workshop A

Facilitator: Dr Scott Prasser, Key Principal, Policy Solutions

Luncheon will be provided for delegates attending both workshops

WORKSHOP B: The A-Z of evidence based policy development: Issues, skills and challenges

1:00    Start of Workshop B

Practitioners are expected to develop policies based on clear ‘evidence.’ The issue is how is this done given the different pressures practitioners face in terms of time, resources and competing values and agendas?

This workshop introduces participants to:

•    Key concepts of evidence based policy development

•    Issues in having research and evidence used in policy development

•    Appreciating the realities of policy development

•    Identifying the competing sources of ‘evidence’

•    Processes for collecting evidence

•    Obstacles to evidence based policy approaches

4:00    End of Workshop B

Facilitator: Dr Scott Prasser, Key Principal, Policy Solutions

About your facilitator:

Dr Scott Prasser has worked in senior policy and research positions across federal and state governments including departments such as State Development, Welfare Services, Immigration, and Premier and Cabinet. More recently, Scott has been involved in a research project on Best Practice Advice to Ministers with extensive interviews with former and present state and federal ministers, premiers and prime ministers.

Pricing
(must register & pay by dates listed)