POLICY AND RESEARCH FOR REGIONAL AUSTRALIA: A DOTARS PERSPECTIVE.

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POLICY AND RESEARCH FOR REGIONAL AUSTRALIA A
DOTARS PERSPECTIVE.

• Andy Turner
• General Manager
• Regional Research Statistics
• Bureau of Transport Regional Economics (BTRE)
• Department of Transport Regional Services
  (DOTARS)
• Tel [phone]
• Andy.Turner_at_dotars.gov.au
• www.dotars.gov.au
• www.btre.gov.au

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Structure

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. REGIONAL POLICY AND PROGRAMS
• 3. REGIONAL RESEARCH AND DATA
• 4. A PERSPECTIVE ON THE INTERACTION OF POLICY
  AND RESEARCH

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• If politics is the art of the possible,
  research is surely the art of the soluble. Both
  are immensely practical-minded affairs.
• Sir Peter Medewar, 1964

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• the policy-research debate has a long historical
  context
• providing a perspective rather than a
  prescription
• that perspective comes from a government research
  organisation concerned with spatial information
• acknowledge recent contribution of Saunders,
  Peter and Walter, James (eds), Ideas and
  Influence Social Science and Public Policy in
  Australia. UNSW Press, 2005.

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Structure

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. REGIONAL POLICY AND PROGRAMS
• 3. REGIONAL RESEARCH AND DATA
• 4. A PERSPECTIVE ON THE INTERACTION OF POLICY
  AND RESEARCH

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• International Trends OECD
• Consistent demand for whole-of-government
  approaches
• OECD member countries shifting from sectoral to
  place-based approach

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• Australian Governments Approach to Regional
  Development
• 1999 Regional Australia Summit
• Inputs from a wide range of stakeholders
• Government
• Industry
• Community
• Aim was to develop the best policy advice

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Stronger Regions A Stronger Australia
Statement - 2001

• Australias regions are diverse
• Communities best placed to articulate their own
  vision and drive their own development
• Aust Government is working collaboratively, and
  in partnership with communities to realise the
  future communities choose

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Review of Regional Programmes 2002

• 341 Australian Government programs existed but
  few addressed specific regional issues
• Funding for most relevant programs was lapsing
• Regional Partnerships program was created to
  assist regions take ownership of their own
  development, to meet their needs and aspirations.

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• Objectives of the Regional Partnerships Program
• Strengthening growth and opportunities
• Improving access to services
• Supporting planning
• Assisting structural adjustment

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• Sustainable Regions Program
• The major initiative under the Stronger Regions,
  A Stronger Australia Statement.
• Assists regional communities to address priority
  issues they have themselves identified.

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Australian Government Policy Framework

• One size does not fit all
• Regional programmes are designed to meet locally
  specific needs
• Engagement with local communities happens
  through
• Area Consultative Committees (ACCs)
• DOTARS regional offices
• Sustainable Regions Advisory Committees

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ACCs Role

• ACCs role is critical
• ACCs core responsibilities are
• to be key facilitators of change and development
  in their region.
• to be the link between government, business and
  the community
• to facilitate whole of government responses to
  opportunities in their communities

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Whole of Government Approach

• WhOG approach necessary to address diversity of
  issues facing different communities
• Making headway in delivery of programs and
  services in a seamless way
• Formal structures are in place to generate WhOG
  work practices
• In a two-way stream, these structures inform and
  are informed on regional issues

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National Regional Evaluation Framework (NREF)

• Internal Department work in early stages. We
  hope it will help us in the following ways
• Understanding performance of regions and
  determining contribution of programmes
• Identify key performance indicators (social and
  economic) and some programme expenditure
• Key agencies involved in development

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Balancing participative and consultative
processes with the need for implementation

• Aim to reduce turn around times to provide faster
  feedback for communities
• Continue to use ACCs to provide on-the-ground
  support for communities

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Structure

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. REGIONAL POLICY AND PROGRAMS
• 3. REGIONAL RESEARCH AND DATA
• 4. A PERSPECTIVE ON THE INTERACTION OF POLICY
  AND RESEARCH

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BTRE regional research

• Regional research introduced to BTRE in 2002
• Small team of 8 researchers
• What we do
• Undertake research projects and publish reports
• Provide advice on research related issues
• Build and maintain networks
• Events

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BTRE regional publications

• About Australias Regions pocket booklet
• Government interventions in pursuit of regional
  development
• Investment trends in the Lower Murray Darling
  Basin
• Regional public transport
• Focus on Regions series

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Focus on Regions

• Industry structure
• Education, skills and qualifications
• Taxable income
• Social capital
• Welfare dependency
• Household wealth

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New directions

• Development experiences of particular regions
• Drivers of growth in the Greater Sydney
  Metropolitan Region
• Tasmanias economic development, 1985-2005
• Sponge cities
• Skill shortages
• Cost of remoteness

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Some key messages

• No single Regional Australia
• Uncertainty, investment and growth
• Diverse industry mix

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Relationships and networks

• Internal
• Regional Services
• Area Consultative Committees
• External
• National Regional Research Network
• Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Other government
• Regional researchers

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Structure

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. REGIONAL POLICY AND PROGRAMS
• 3. REGIONAL RESEARCH AND DATA
• 4. A PERSPECTIVE ON THE INTERACTION OF POLICY
  AND RESEARCH

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• Three views on the place of experts and
  scientific expertise in politics/policy

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• Im a professional economist Dr Cartwright
  explained. Director of Local Administrative
  Statistics.
• So you were in charge of the Local Government
  Directorate until we took it over?
• He smiled at my Jim Hackers question. Dear
  me, no. He shook his head sadly, though
  apparently without bitterness. No, Im just
  Under-Secretary rank I fear that I will rise
  no higher.
• I asked why not.
• He smiled. Alas! I am an expert.
• Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay (eds), The Complete
  Yes Minister the Diaries of a Cabinet Minister
  by the Rt Hon James Hacker MP, 1984, 381

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• As soon as questions of will or decision or
  reason or choice of action arise, human science
  is at a loss.
• Noam Chomsky, TV interview

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• Monsieur Pompidou is reported to have quipped,
  when he was prime minister of France, that there
  were three ways for a politician to ruin his
  career chasing women, gambling, and trusting
  experts. The first, he said, was the most
  pleasant and the second the quickest, but
  trusting experts was the surest.
• Guy Benveniste, The Politics of Expertise, 1972, 1

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The struggle to communicate across the spatial
research-policy void

• Policy makers are from Mars researchers are from
  Venus
• OR
• What should happen, now
• MEETS
• What might happen, sometime

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Why is it so?

• Differences in
• Experience
• Values and
• Time

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Experience

• The Jim Hacker Effect - Nobody likes a smarty
  pants
• The silos of
• politics
• business and
• academia.
• What might be done to increase the flexibility
  of, and diminish these silos within, the
  Australian labour market?

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Values

• The Noam Chomsky Effect I am objective, you
  are biased, he is bigoted
• The differences between the arts of the possible
  and the soluble operating at three levels
• the choice of questions
• the selection of evidence and
• the assessment of results.
• Is communicating about the identification of
  issues and evidence like voting best done early
  and often?

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The treatment of Time

• The Georges Pompidou Effect You want it
  when?
• The afflictions
• researchers suffer from curiosity and long time
  horizons
• policy makers are addicted to seeking immediate
  practical answers to necessity.
• Are the afflictions contagious and potentially
  fatal to respective careers? Does confining the
  patients to their respective isolation hospitals
  provide a cure?

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A CONCLUSION

• The ARCRNSISS Conference Examination
• Can Martians and Venusians be brought Down To
  Earth can they co-habit the same space and time?
  Discuss.
• Andy.Turner_at_dotars.gov.au
• www.dotars.gov.au
• www.btre.gov.au
• Tel [phone]
• Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics
  (BTRE)
• DOTARS