Focus Sharpens on Change, Reform and Transparency

Change, reform and transparency are themes explored by a diverse range of Australian and international authors in the December issue of the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

A controversy on whether working from home will become the ‘new normal’ — written by Sue Williamson (UNSW Canberra), Linda Colley (CQUniversity) and Sally Hanna-Osborne (UNSW Canberra) — is already drawing significant attention with downloads of the paper already putting it amongst the top 10 papers for downloads in 2020.

Some research and evaluation highlights include:

• ‘Employees’ resistance to users’ ideas in public service innovation’ by Line Margrethe Jenhaug (Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway)
• ‘Uber in Queensland: From policy fortress to policy change’ by Elliot James Stein and Brian W. Head (University of Queensland), and
• ‘Maintaining neutrality in the Minister’s office’ by Rose Cole (University of Wellington).

Michael Di Francesco from The Australian National University has written a timely practice insight called ‘A signal failure: Sports grants, public servants, and traffic lights’.

And two recently published books on public administration are reviewed:

•  ‘A transatlantic history of public administration. Analysing the United State, Germany, and France’ published in 2018 is reviewed by John Halligan (University of Canberra), and
• ‘The problem with political trust: A conceptual reformulation’ published in 2019 is reviewed by Vicki A. Spencer (University of Otago).

IPAA members have full access to the journal via a dedicated portal and app. Others interested in accessing the journal can do so via the Wiley Online Library.

Visit the Australian Journal of Public Administration page for more information.