Public Administration Developments in Australia: Lessons an NPM Leader Might Draw from NWS

Australian public administration has undergone dramatic change over the last 50 years through a long sequence of incremental, pragmatic reforms. Australia was a leader of New Public Management in the 1980s and 1990s, subsequently incorporating New Public Governance measures of collaboration and networking. While some critics describe the transformation as ‘neo-liberalism’, the article favours the more neutral term, ‘managerialism’, recognising its liberal aspects but challenging claims of rolling back the role of the state. Reflecting on the overall shift today, the author concludes that the measures were not wrong but were taken too far, and important balances were lost. Looking to the future, the article calls for a major correction including reinvestment in the state, not necessarily as far as adoption of Pollitt and Bouckaert’s Neo-Weberian State but drawing important lessons from that paradigm.