Australian Journal of Public Administration最新文献

{"title":"Public sector policy capacity and parliamentary oppositions in Australia","authors":"Darren Anthony Disney","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In the Westminster model, policy formulation by parliamentarians and oppositions takes place in policy advisory systems similar to government, absent direct advice from departments. Parliaments and governments have sporadically introduced services to supply policy capacity, including parliamentary libraries, parliamentary budget offices, and election policy costing processes. This study identifies and compares the policy capacity that is provided by these components across major Australian national and sub-national jurisdictions and, based on the experience of the participants, identifies gaps that could be addressed in future measures. The study finds supply gaps in the provision of policy capacity for design and implementation, and a lack of connection between problems, interventions, and outcomes. There are also opportunities to develop the connection mechanisms between agencies and the stages of the policy cycle, in order to enhance information sharing and policy logic.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>This new research identifies a gap in the supply of public sector policy capacity to parliamentarians and oppositions in the provision of policy design and implementation expertise, leading to a disconnect between policy problems, interventions, and outcomes.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>The findings present opportunities for reform including a more systemic approach, across the policy cycle, to the supply of policy capacity to parliamentarians and oppositions.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Policy actors identified opportunities, including publishing more information on policy logic and evaluation, enhancing the interface between agencies, and augmenting the role of current parliamentary agencies to include design and implementation expertise and advice.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"188-205"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.70018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147566415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why do politicians employ public–private partnerships? Results from a mixed-method study","authors":"Sebastian Zwalf","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become increasingly common in government infrastructure programs around the world. This study collates and categorises the types of rationales that scholars have identified as the reasons for governments to use PPPs. It tests these scholarly-identified rationales through interviews and surveys with former ministers and political advisers in Australian governments. The study finds politicians and their advisers generally believe that PPPs have a range of financial, risk management, and project management advantages relative to traditional infrastructure procurement models. Benefits are myriad and often overlapping and include factors concerning the presentation of public sector balance sheets, bringing forward infrastructure delivery, perceived value for money, efficiency, and greater innovation. Assertions that political benefits are a driver for the use of PPPs are not quantitatively supported, although qualitative evidence of governance and symbolic benefits exists.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>This study collates 45 drivers that public policy and public administration scholars have argued are rationales for the use of PPPs. This study identifies 14 of those rationales which politicians and their advisors agree are drivers to use the PPP delivery model.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Politicians and their advisers are generally supportive of the PPP model and believe it to be technically superior to traditional procurement options for financial, risk management, project management, and policy/public administration benefits.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Politicians and their advisers generally reject that there are direct political benefits to the PPP delivery model and that this is a driver for their use of it. Notwithstanding this, evidence exists of governance, risk management, and symbolic benefits that offer indirect political advantages to governments.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Politicians believe that PPPs offer overlapping and integrated advantages in design, operation, innovation, efficiency, maintenance, and life cycle costing, relative to other delivery models.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"116-145"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.70005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147568494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Public service supply chain management: A study of Australian employment services","authors":"Phuc Nguyen,&nbsp;Michael McGann,&nbsp;Mark Considine","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70016","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To continuously improve public service provision has been a stated goal of governments worldwide. Despite the increasing popularity of systems approaches to analysing public service delivery, research into the topic from a supply chain management (SCM) perspective, while acknowledged for its potential contribution to improving public service delivery, remains underdeveloped. This study, utilising a service SCM model as an analytic framework, explores how the performance of public services can be traced back to the effectiveness of service providers’ management of their supply chains. As evidenced by data collected via interviews and observations of best-performing agencies under Australia's fourth iteration of its welfare-to-work reform, <i>jobactive</i>, SCM practices such as effective management of customers’ demands, flexible service capacity/workforce, and strong internal collaboration proved to have positive impacts on services delivered to jobseekers as end-users. Inefficiencies in the management of relationships with suppliers and flows of finance and information, on the other hand, were found to impede the creation of value for jobseekers. Contributions to the field of public management aside, our study provides an illustration of how to deploy the SCM approach for the purpose of optimising public service delivery when multiple suppliers are engaged.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Underpinning any welfare provision, there exists a supply chain, whether it is consciously managed or not. Insights into public service provision in a quasi-market from an SCM perspective remain underdeveloped.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>A public service supply chain is characterised by added complexity due to customer multiplicity and co-production from end-users, the management of which impacts service delivery.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>An analysis of a public service supply chain from the contracted private providers’ perspective sheds light on whether and how they successfully adapt SCM practices to manage the service delivery network to ensure effectiveness. This lays the foundation for further improvements, both in policymaking and implementation.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"167-187"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.70016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147562302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Policy shifts and drifts: From intention to implementation of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme","authors":"Eloise Hummell,&nbsp;Michele Foster,&nbsp;Kylie Burns,&nbsp;Sue Harris Rimmer","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12689","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>It is not uncommon that original aspirations of social policy go astray during implementation. Issues that are the focus of social policy are often tied to various competing social, political, and value positions, making them unfailingly ‘wicked’ and rendering the design and implementation of solutions inherently challenging. Such is the case with Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which has been plagued by implementation problems and criticised for straying from its original objectives and principles. In this article, interview data from 31 stakeholders identify perceptions of congruence of the NDIS with its original objectives and values during the decade since inception, particularly focused on decision-making of reasonable and necessary supports. The perceived shift from disability rights to fights for entitlements and changing narrative of cost containment is indicative not only of implementation challenges but the inevitability of ongoing value disputes that often plague complex social issues. At a time of major NDIS reform amid ongoing tensions and debates, goal clarity and better decision guidance remain critical for future policy design and implementation.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Perspectives from diverse stakeholders across Australia explore where and why the NDIS may have drifted away from its original values, especially pertaining to reasonable and necessary supports.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>While stakeholders identified cost, sustainability, and consistency as increasingly significant issues in NDIS implementation, initial rights-based and person-centred objectives envisioned during policy design were seen as retreating.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>The inherent value tensions and contestations within the reasonable and necessary criteria have been under-recognised and inevitably persist in NDIS implementation.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Critical insights for future policy reform can be gained from thinking about implementation issues and understanding when and why good intentions wander off course.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"71-90"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12689","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147569375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Papua New Guinea's Public Services Commission since independence: Sidelined or strengthened?","authors":"Nematullah Bizhan,&nbsp;Stephen Howes","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This paper investigates reforms to the Public Services Commission (PSC) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since independence in 1975. It looks at the original role of the PSC and then the various reforms it has been subject to: in 1986, 2003, and 2013, by constitutional and legislative change, and in 2019, by court ruling. We argue that since independence, PNG's PSC has been at different times made both less and more powerful. We explain these conflicting trajectories by reference to conflicting reform objectives: at times to make the civil service more flexible and responsive and at times to protect the civil service from corruption and political interference. Beyond PNG, the paper speaks to the different reform trajectories of PSCs in developing countries compared to developed ones; to possible limitations of the punctuated equilibrium approach to policy change; and to the civil service reform failure literature.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>The reforms to Papua New Guinea's (PNG) civil service over the years reflect a tension between making the civil service more flexible and responsive and protecting it from corruption and political interference. This case study shows the importance of being aware of the trade-off between the two goals.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Efforts to improve civil service should also focus on changing political behaviour rather than exclusively on structural reform.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>In many countries, such as Australia, central bodies such as the Public Services Commission (PSC) have lost nearly all their power: indeed, this has been a central component of the New Public Management (NPM) reforms that were popular in the 1990s. The PNG case, however, is one of a number that shows that this trend is far from universal when developing countries are considered.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"146-166"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.70010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reshaping disaster management: An integrated community-led approach","authors":"Marco De Sisto,&nbsp;Clifford Shearing,&nbsp;Timothy Heffernan,&nbsp;David Sanderson","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12668","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12668","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The management of disasters has traditionally involved public, private, and nongovernmental organisations working together. While scholars have examined the value of collaborations among these entities, less is known about how to successfully engage and empower communities in disaster management. Based on network governance theory, this article contributes to the growing body of public management literature on community engagement by presenting findings from an Australian research initiative conducted after the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires in New South Wales. Through workshops and semi-structured interviews with a total of 58 members from local communities and emergency agencies, this paper identifies differing perspectives on power distribution among stakeholders, indicating complexities in achieving an integrated and community-led disaster management approach. The findings underscore the need to shift from exclusively centralised to more inclusive systems, recognising the unique contributions of nonofficial community-based groups. To address this, the study suggests: a funded community consultation committee, ensuring government and local community representation; collaborative debriefing sessions, leveraging technology for knowledge capture; and the adoption of different leadership styles able to identify, include, and integrate communities as both steerers and rowers within established hierarchical arrangements.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>\u0000 <p>The current centralised emergency management system, which relies on recognised experts and state-controlled facilities, limits the integration of nonofficial resources and community-based knowledge.</p>\u0000 </li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>\u0000 <p>A shift towards a more community-centric and integrated approach (collaborative polycentric governance) is needed to enhance disaster resilience and response in Australia.</p>\u0000 </li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>\u0000 <p>Different stages of disaster reduction could and should have different leadership styles: a transformational, collaborative community-based style should be implemented before and after the disaster, while a transactional leadership style, more focused on restructuring the system or how it is applied, should be adopted during the disaster.</p>\u0000 </li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"3-30"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12668","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147566172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Regulating digital mental health services in Australia: Strengthening oversight and clarifying complaints mechanisms","authors":"Piers Gooding,&nbsp;Grant Pink","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Digital mental health services in Australia have grown rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to attract public and private investment. Yet, ambiguity remains about which regulatory bodies are responsible for addressing the ‘significant risks’ noted in Australia's National Safety and Quality Digital Mental Health Standards. These risks include threats to privacy, safety, and data security. This Practice and Policy note makes recommendations based on a mapping of Australian regulators potentially involved when a digital mental health service is found to pose such a risk. In practice, an average of three regulators may be relevant for each area of risk, and more than double in some instances. Such complexity can confound clarity about where to lodge complaints or concerns, and how any identified ‘significant risk’ is to be managed. This paper proposes ways to clarify referrals between the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, accrediting agencies, and other key regulators and recommends (1) further regulatory mapping and planning, (2) clearer complaints and feedback pathways, and (3) an evaluation of current regulatory infrastructure to ensure fitness for purpose.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Uncertainty currently exists about which bodies oversee different aspects of digital mental health service regulation in Australia.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>The National Safety and Quality Digital Mental Health Standards are world-leading, but there is a need to confirm referral pathways for risks that arise during service accreditation.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Clearer public complaint and feedback procedures would benefit service users, care providers, and regulators alike.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Robust oversight and accessible complaints channels will help Australia maximise the benefits of digital innovations in mental health care while minimising harm.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"206-211"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.70013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147562319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of Indonesia's government research and development institutions into single agency: Neo-Weberian State or not?","authors":"Hadi Kardoyo,&nbsp;Roy Valiant Salomo,&nbsp;Andreo Wahyudi Atmoko,&nbsp;Dudi Hidayat","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.70003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70003","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 &lt;section&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;p&gt;This article analyses the trajectory and reform model in the integration of all Indonesian government R&amp;D institutions into a single agency, the National Research and Innovation Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BRIN). Based on the two ideal types of Weberian–entrepreneurial bureaucracy models, the BRIN case shows a ‘maintain’ trajectory in the aspects of formal structure and Weberian organisational model and a ‘modernise’ trajectory in the aspects of administrative procedures and processes. This hybrid approach fits the Neo-Weberian State (NWS) model. However, merging all research organisations into a single agency contradicts current literature on innovation in bureaucracies, which defines NWS as a configuration of multiple organisations fostering agile stability. By integrating five types of innovation in bureaucracy, the reform reverts to a stability-focused Weber I model. Efforts to create an agile bureaucracy are confined to internal procedures and services. To align with the NWS definition in the literature, BRIN's public managers play a key role as public value carriers, devising strategies for thematic-led missions and building charismatic networks to promote the agencification of other innovation bureaucracies. This aims to fulfil BRIN's mission as an enabler of Indonesia's research and innovation ecosystem.&lt;/p&gt;\u0000 &lt;/section&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;section&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;h3&gt; Points for practitioners&lt;/h3&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;div&gt;\u0000 &lt;ul&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;li&gt;The Neo Weberian State (NWS) is a post-New Public Management (NPM) reform model, evolving from the Weberian bureaucratic model and the entrepreneurial bureaucracy model.&lt;/li&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;li&gt;Public sector management reforms adhere to two ideal bureaucratic types, focusing on formal structures, civil service organisation, and internal procedures and processes. Reform trajectories can hybridise due to ideological influences, politico-administrative systems, and practical contingencies, influencing the choice of mechanisms tailored to specific conditions.&lt;/li&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;li&gt;In the science, technology, and innovation sectors, NWS is perceived as a configuration of multiple organisations with differing bureaucratic characteristics (creators, doers, funders, facilitators, and regulators), aiming for agile stability.&lt;/li&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;li&gt;The integration of all Indonesian government research and development agencies into a single entity highlights the dominant role of public sector reformers or managers as public value carriers in the NWS reform model. Policy innovations in internal procedures and functions serve as breakthroughs used by public managers to address structural rigidity in the reform agenda.&lt;/li&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;li&gt;The integration of five types of bu","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"91-115"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147563511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From local innovation to national policy: Cross-boundary policy entrepreneurship in China's health regulatory reform","authors":"Alex Jingwei He,&nbsp;Hongqiao Fu,&nbsp;Na Tang","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12687","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Many contemporary social problems are innately complex, increasingly requiring joint efforts across sectoral boundaries to find a resolution. Cross-boundary policy entrepreneurship, a distinctive form of policy dynamism, represents a nascent approach to policy innovation in the face of emerging disruptive technologies. By analysing a major health regulatory reform in China that was catalysed by local innovation, this study explains how a coalition of entrepreneurial actors across the local government, the corporate sector, and public hospitals was formed, and how it secured policy adoption at both local and national levels. In-depth interviews were extensively used in data collection, and a processual approach was adopted in qualitative analysis. This two-episode case study characterises four types of policy entrepreneurs and explains their respective motivations and entrepreneurial strategies used in the reform. This study's findings illustrate how local innovations are scaled-up into national policies in a multilevel governance structure through collective manoeuvres.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Many contemporary social problems require joint innovative efforts across sectoral boundaries.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Policy entrepreneur, process broker, program champion, and technology innovator play distinctive roles in cross-boundary policy innovations.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Issue framing, strategic planning, coalition building, venue-shopping, persuasion, and leading by example are common entrepreneurial strategies in scaling up local innovations to national policies.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Caveats must be drawn from both legal and ethical grounds to scrutinise cross-boundary policy entrepreneurship.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"51-70"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147567394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Administrative burden as a constraint on freedom in the modern welfare state","authors":"Jeremiah Thomas Brown,&nbsp;Eleanor Malbon","doi":"10.1111/1467-8500.12683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12683","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The administrative burden literature has demonstrated a variety of ways in which administrative burdens can act as barriers to citizens accessing services to which they are entitled. This paper connects these insights to ideas from the Capabilities Approach to Human Development to articulate the ways that administrative burdens can be understood as constraints on freedom. Drawing from examples in the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme application process, we discuss potential barriers to accessing social support services in the conditional welfare state. This analysis demonstrates the subtle mechanisms through which citizens can be excluded from accessing services to which they are entitled and the disconnection between being entitled to a service in principle and being free to access that service in practice. The paper demonstrates that by paying more attention to the filtering mechanisms in social policies, administrative burden can offer insight into what constrains freedom in the modern welfare state.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Points for practitioners</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <div>\u0000 <ul>\u0000 \u0000 <li>For many policy areas within the welfare state, there are a variety of challenges that can prevent citizens from obtaining access to rights which they are entitled to receive, with administrative burdens being a common type of barrier to completing administrative processes that relate to accessing rights.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Administrative burdens can act as constraints on freedom for people by preventing them from completing administrative processes which are necessary to complete in order to access supports to which they are entitled, and which would otherwise expand their freedom by increasing the range of meaningful choices which they would hold.</li>\u0000 \u0000 <li>Practitioners should think about structural components of the wider system they engage with when working on or changing an application process (like the health system), since those components of the system may become overloaded when they become a requirement for a widely applied for service, and this can make those requirements harder for applicants to comply with.</li>\u0000 </ul>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47373,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Public Administration","volume":"85 1","pages":"31-50"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8500.12683","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147566960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}