12 May 2011: Agencies encouraged to make customers happy
Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher today proposed community ‘happiness’ as a legitimate and useful way of measuring national progress and the success of Australian government policies and program delivery.
Speaking at the ‘Public Sector Leaders: Rethinking & Improving Service Delivery’ conference in Sydney, Mr Asher focused on two significant challenges for government agencies.
‘The first is to improve services and their delivery by talking to customers about what they want and need,’ he said. ‘The second is to represent the views of the public, challenge bad practice and recommend changes.’
Referring to the British Government’s ‘Happiness Index’ and the US President’s ‘Streamlining service delivery and improving customer service’ executive order to federal agencies, the Ombudsman argued that Australia too suffers from a democratic deficit in need of redress.
‘By that, I mean it is one thing to vote governments in or out of power, but quite another to make sure that those governments deliver the services we need in the way we want to receive them,’ Mr Asher said.
‘By adopting a new philosophy of public service that involves consulting and collaborating with individuals in ways that are meaningful and lead to the development of services, we will not only meet their needs but enhance the wellbeing of the community.
‘This is what we as citizens expect when we vote—a government that will represent us, listen to us and make decisions that add to our collective and individual well-being.’
To illustrate, Mr Asher pointed to the Spring Arab Uprisings as an example of people demonstrating—at huge cost to themselves—for democratic rights, and to governments in Europe and the USA questioning the happiness of constituents.
The Ombudsman also suggested consideration be given to the establishment in Australia of an over-arching ‘integrity agency’ to ensure standards in governance.
‘There are many agencies that can claim to have an integrity role—my office is one—but corruption is like water, it flows through all the gaps,’ he said.
‘What we need is an overseer with a clear mandate to shape and enforce standards of behaviour across all arms of governance, and anti-corruption legislation and measures that are monitored by specialised bodies with adequate powers, resources and training.’
Mr Asher’s 10 suggestions for better governance and public service included improving stakeholder engagement, soliciting positive and negative feedback, thinking creatively about how to collect and distribute information, and providing individuals with accessible review processes.
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Date of release: 12 May 2011