From rhetoric to blueprint: The Moran Review as a concerted, comprehensive and emergent strategy for public service reform

Abstract

On 3 September 2009, Prime Minister Rudd announced a six-month Review of Australian Government Administration. He appointed an Advisory Group chaired by Terry Moran, Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to prepare a discussion paper, oversee a benchmarking study and consultations, and craft a blueprint to reform the Australian Public Service (APS) in order to deal with future governance challenges. The vision is to develop a forward-looking, innovative, collaborative, citizen-focused, agile, informed and highly-skilled APS to advise and deliver policy and services for government. Ahead of the Game, a comprehensive Blueprint for action, was released on 29 March 2010. This article provides a high-level review of motivations and process for theMoran Review, an overview of the Blueprint, an assessment of the strategy and process, and suggestions for moving forward on selected issues.