One of Australia’s most senior public servants has delivered a scathing assessment of the federal bureaucracy’s ability to devise and deliver on policies Australians want, saying “if it was a patient, it would be in palliative care”.

Now chair of the Centre for Policy Development, Terry Moran AC was head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for more than three years during the Rudd-Gillard Labor government.

In a process begun by the Howard government and continued under Labor, many government services, such as job placement, were outsourced, with delivery handed to the private sector. The trend has continued, with services such as refugee placement being handed to private-sector companies.

But Moran now says Australians want a different direction.

In a major speech to the Victorian branch of the Institute of Public Administration Australia, Moran said new research by his thinktank highlighted a disconnect between what Canberra thought people wanted and what they actually wanted.



This was made abundantly clear by the resounding “yes” vote in the marriage equality survey, he said.

“What’s clear from CPD’s research is that Australians think reinvigorating our democracy is a pressing and overdue task,” he said. “And it’s not just about reforms to the system and its processes. It means ensuring the best contemporary policy ideas rise to the top.”

Australians wanted a more active government and a fresh suite of policies that were not just informed by economics, he said.



Among the findings of the attitudinal research was that 73% of Australians agreed that politics was “fixated on short-term gains and not on addressing long-term challenges” and that one in three thought the main purpose of democracy was “ensuring that all people are treated fairly and equally”. This was the top response, when asked what they believed was the main purpose of a democracy.



The research also revealed that Australians were highly sceptical about outsourcing of social services.



Terry Moran with the former prime minister Julia Gillard. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

“Eighty-two per cent want to see government retain skills and capability to deliver these services directly, and view government as a ‘better’ provider of services on most indicators when compared to charities and businesses,” Moran said.

The survey was conducted by Essential Research, in partnership with Prof Glenn Withers from the Australian National University, and using the Your Source online panel, and aimed to replicate similar research that was done in 1994 and again in 2015. It was estimated to offer 95% certainty that the results were an accurate reflection of the wider population within 3 percentage points.

The research also revealed that Australians were prepared to pay more for essential services like health, schools, social service payments to the elderly and economic infrastructure because they benefited the community.

This had been a trend over the past decade but 61% of Australians were still prepared to pay more, Moran said.

The Turnbull government this week unveiled plans for unspecified tax cuts aimed at middle-income Australians before the next election to be held by May 2019. There has been no indication as to how they would be funded but it would likely require a further round of budget tightening.

“Right now, the policy pendulum is swinging away from a consensus on the primacy of light-touch regulation of markets, the unexamined benefits of outsourced service delivery, a general preference for smaller government, and a willing ignorance of public sector values and culture because they’re not always compatible with efficiency as viewed by treasuries,” Moran said.



“Replacing this consensus is an increasing acceptance of a larger role for government, including involvement in service delivery, more effective regulation and bolder policy initiatives.”

Moran said it was time for the public service to “get back in the game”and that meant “investing in a public service that can think for itself, not smothering it with a dominant microeconomic paradigm that no longer works and the community no longer supports”.