Australian federal public service’s governance of systemic risks: Current state and improvements for a complex world
(2024) VBRM15 20241Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
- Abstract
- The purpose of this research was to examine existing governance arrangements within the Australian federal public service and possible improvements for managing systemic risks at a national level. While there has been greater attention and discussion on systemic risks recently, research on how to govern systemic risk remains in its infancy. Where systemic risk governance is discussed, it is generally in an international context, with it rarely reflected in national risk governance arrangements. The research used two methods of data collection: semi-structured interviews and a scoping study. Six themes emerged from the thematic data analysis of the interview data including culture, institutional arrangements, politics, learning, ethical... (More)
- The purpose of this research was to examine existing governance arrangements within the Australian federal public service and possible improvements for managing systemic risks at a national level. While there has been greater attention and discussion on systemic risks recently, research on how to govern systemic risk remains in its infancy. Where systemic risk governance is discussed, it is generally in an international context, with it rarely reflected in national risk governance arrangements. The research used two methods of data collection: semi-structured interviews and a scoping study. Six themes emerged from the thematic data analysis of the interview data including culture, institutional arrangements, politics, learning, ethical leadership, and vision. The scoping study supported these findings while providing additional insights, particularly on risk analysis and management methods. A key finding was that the federal public service governs systemic risk in an ad hoc fashion, with no public service wide governance arrangements in place. The results suggest three areas of focus for enhancing systemic risk governance: by moving to a positive risk culture, developing the federal public service’s adaptive capacity, and cultivating inclusive governance arrangements. While the federal public service has a key role to play in governing systemic risk, it is clear from the results that it struggles operating locally and lacks control over many systemic risk drivers. Rather, the federal public service needs to adopt a stewardship role, providing guidance and resources to align efforts across sectors and levels of government, and facilitate participation and co design of solutions. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- The rate of systemic risks — risks born from the interdependence of systems and their potential to cause cascading failures across sectors — is growing rapidly, raising the likelihood of future catastrophes like COVID-19 and the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires. Our daily lives depend on complex systems that provide essential services like energy, water, food, healthcare, education, transport, and communications. While these systems are not new, they are now more reliant on one another, more closely linked, and interacting faster and more often. With hazards predicted to worsen in frequency and intensity due to climate change, the risk of disasters triggering profound, far-reaching impacts across these systems is escalating significantly.
... (More) - The rate of systemic risks — risks born from the interdependence of systems and their potential to cause cascading failures across sectors — is growing rapidly, raising the likelihood of future catastrophes like COVID-19 and the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires. Our daily lives depend on complex systems that provide essential services like energy, water, food, healthcare, education, transport, and communications. While these systems are not new, they are now more reliant on one another, more closely linked, and interacting faster and more often. With hazards predicted to worsen in frequency and intensity due to climate change, the risk of disasters triggering profound, far-reaching impacts across these systems is escalating significantly.
Although there has been increased attention and discussion around systemic risks, research on how to manage them is still in its infancy. My research found that while these risks are recognised, the Australian federal public service’s approach to managing them is often fragmented and inconsistent, potentially leaving Australia vulnerable to even more severe impacts in the future.
To improve the management of systemic risks, it is crucial to address entrenched risk aversion within the public service, promote ethical leadership, and reduce the short-term focus driven by political pressures. This requires an independent entity to coordinate action, based on a shared vision for Australia that balances economic outcomes with human rights and environmental sustainability. My findings also suggest that many of the causes of systemic risk lie outside of the public service’s control, and that the public service should take on a stewardship role, aligning efforts across sectors and collaborating more effectively with state and local governments, who are better positioned to act in a place-based and contextual way.
Implementing these changes would strengthen Australia’s resilience, better preparing the public service for future challenges. By creating a shared vision and aligning on common goals, the public service can move beyond a fragmented approach and tackle systemic risks more effectively, ensuring a safer and more sustainable Australia. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9175195
- author
- van Dam, Christiaan LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- The growing threat of systemic risks: can the Australian federal public service keep up?
- course
- VBRM15 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- systemic, risk, governance, public sector, public administration
- language
- English
- id
- 9175195
- date added to LUP
- 2024-09-25 13:55:09
- date last changed
- 2024-09-25 13:55:09
@misc{9175195,
abstract = {{The purpose of this research was to examine existing governance arrangements within the Australian federal public service and possible improvements for managing systemic risks at a national level. While there has been greater attention and discussion on systemic risks recently, research on how to govern systemic risk remains in its infancy. Where systemic risk governance is discussed, it is generally in an international context, with it rarely reflected in national risk governance arrangements. The research used two methods of data collection: semi-structured interviews and a scoping study. Six themes emerged from the thematic data analysis of the interview data including culture, institutional arrangements, politics, learning, ethical leadership, and vision. The scoping study supported these findings while providing additional insights, particularly on risk analysis and management methods. A key finding was that the federal public service governs systemic risk in an ad hoc fashion, with no public service wide governance arrangements in place. The results suggest three areas of focus for enhancing systemic risk governance: by moving to a positive risk culture, developing the federal public service’s adaptive capacity, and cultivating inclusive governance arrangements. While the federal public service has a key role to play in governing systemic risk, it is clear from the results that it struggles operating locally and lacks control over many systemic risk drivers. Rather, the federal public service needs to adopt a stewardship role, providing guidance and resources to align efforts across sectors and levels of government, and facilitate participation and co design of solutions.}},
author = {{van Dam, Christiaan}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Australian federal public service’s governance of systemic risks: Current state and improvements for a complex world}},
year = {{2024}},
}