By Stephen O'DohertySunday 23 Apr 2017Open House InterviewsCultureReading Time: 1 minute
Public policy touches every aspect of our lives, the welfare system, the education and health system the delivery of infrastructure, taxes, justice. You name it, and there’s a public policy measure.
Public policy is intrinsically intertwined with politics, and there are increasing concerns about knee-jerk, populist, policy making on-the-run by politicians seeking a bump in the polls or to wrong foot their opponent or to get into power or to stay in power cut ground from under other political forces.
The fractious tension between politics and policy often leaves us with short-term and poorly implemented solutions that don’t work. An eminent panel of experts met in Canberra this week for the Peter Karmel Forum on Public Policy hosted by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. The question being address was Can Good Policy Rescue Politics?
They discussed how to revive good government, and if the right policies built on well-researched evidence inspire a return to strong and visionary government. One of the panellists at the Forum was the former Liberal leader and leading economist, Dr John Hewson.