A signal failure

Sports grants, public servants, and traffic lights

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11961334
AutoresMichael Di Francesco (0000-0001-6744-478X, Crawford School of Public Policy The Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen79
Número4
Páginas584-591
Fecha de publicación2020-06-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAustralian Journal of Public Administration (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0313-6647 • E-ISSN: 1467-8500
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-8500.12434
OpenAlexW3033256253
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas11

The Auditor General's performance audit into the failings of the Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program has led to a ministerial resignation and a parliamentary inquiry. The media melee prompted by the ‘sports rorts’ affair has focussed on political corruption of process, with a concentration on the role of ministerial advisers. This is only part of the story. This article argues that on this occasion the Australian Public Service (APS) did not acquit itself well, and that the affair was triggered by an administrative failure to advise on threshold legal and procedural issues: what is termed the ‘traffic light’ role of a professional public service. The article considers how such policy advice failings may have occurred, and whether APS performance in this instance is an indicator of declining institutional capacity

Audit · Business · Government (linguistics · Language change · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public service · Service (business · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Accounting · Marketing