TY - JOUR
T1 - A signal failure
T2 - Sports grants, public servants, and traffic lights
AU - Di Francesco, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Institute of Public Administration Australia
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Auditor General
KW - Australian Public Service
KW - Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program
KW - administrative failure
KW - declining institutional capacity
KW - ministerial advisers
KW - policy advice
KW - ‘sports rorts’
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085903358&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1467-8500.12434
DO - 10.1111/1467-8500.12434
M3 - Article
SN - 0313-6647
VL - 79
SP - 584
EP - 591
JO - Australian Journal of Public Administration
JF - Australian Journal of Public Administration
IS - 4
ER -