Of the many components of reform to Australian government administration in the
1980s, the introduction of systematic program evaluation is perhaps one of the least
examined. This thesis seeks to assess the Federal Labor Government's evaluation
strategy as an instrument for enhancing what are here termed the policy management
capacities of central agencies. It proceeds in two steps. First, the thesis traces in detail
the development of program evaluation policy in Australian federal government from
the effectiveness reviews of the Coombs Report of 1976 to the current evaluation
strategy, and argues that, despite competing purposes for it, evaluation was intended
primarily to serve decision making in central government. This policy aim was
cemented by the economic crisis of the mid 1980s and framed around budgetary issues
by its steward, the Department of Finance. Second, in order to assess the impact of the
evaluation strategy, the thesis develops a framework for analysing program evaluation
as one instrument for strengthening the core policy management functions of central
agencies. In this context, policy management is essentially a coordination task. The
contribution of evaluation to two aspects of policy management-resource
coordination, and policy development and coordination-is examined. The findings
confirm that attempts to formalise evaluation processes have had a variable impact-
central budgetary processes remain dependent on relatively informal assessment
procedures, although recent attempts to enhance policy coordination through the
evaluation of policy advising processes have proved potentially to be more influential.
In conclusion, the thesis argues that the evaluation strategy represented a credible
attempt to better inform policy making in central government, but suffered for want of
clear policy design and firm execution that resulted in only a marginal impact on these
processes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216682 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Di Francesco, Michael Francis, not available |
| Publisher | The Australian National University. Public Policy Program |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.anu.edu.au/legal/copyright/copyrit.html), Copyright Michael Francis Di Francesco |
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