Performance management and evaluation meets culture and politics: Australia’s experience

An underlying tension exists between the fundamental elements of accountability, government decision-making, performance management, evidence-based policy and the measurement of results. This article considers this through three lenses: evaluation of government policies and programs; program structures and performance indicators; and the challenges of big data. While use of new technologies and big data opens up opportunities for strengthened evidence-based policy, this does not address the tension between a disciplined results-based approach to government decision-making and the inherently political nature of these decisions. There remain also important challenges to the effective development and use of big data in government.