Public-Private-Partnership Governance and Performance: An Empirical Assessment. While Australia's rural and regional communities require improved infrastructure services at reduced costs and higher quality; infrastructure costs are significant and governments' funds are insufficient to meet demand. Public-private-partnerships (PPPs), if they work successfully, can be the key to meet this demand. As PPPs reduce the financial investment that governments need to make, the greater the opportunity fo ....Public-Private-Partnership Governance and Performance: An Empirical Assessment. While Australia's rural and regional communities require improved infrastructure services at reduced costs and higher quality; infrastructure costs are significant and governments' funds are insufficient to meet demand. Public-private-partnerships (PPPs), if they work successfully, can be the key to meet this demand. As PPPs reduce the financial investment that governments need to make, the greater the opportunity for considered infrastructure development, if the PPPs are successful and meet their intended financial and social objectives. Thus, a better understanding of the performance outcomes of different governance mechanisms in PPPs can result in less expensive and better infrastructure services for Australia's communities.Read moreRead less
Resolving patients' complaints about hospitals: Responsive regulation by health ombudsmen. Ombudsmen help ensure integrity and accountability in societal institutions. This study of patients' complaints about hospitals to health ombudsmen in two states, and the responses of hospitals, will produce evidence on strategies for making hospitals more responsive to the public and more accountable for the quality of their care. Australia was a world leader in establishing health ombudsmen and this stud ....Resolving patients' complaints about hospitals: Responsive regulation by health ombudsmen. Ombudsmen help ensure integrity and accountability in societal institutions. This study of patients' complaints about hospitals to health ombudsmen in two states, and the responses of hospitals, will produce evidence on strategies for making hospitals more responsive to the public and more accountable for the quality of their care. Australia was a world leader in establishing health ombudsmen and this study will explore their impact upon the hospital system. Evidence-based strategies are needed to improve the accountability of service providers and regulators. Social and economic benefits flow from empowering patients and from improving hospital performance.Read moreRead less
Collective action and collaborative governance in crisis situations. This project aims at tackling the challenges that coordinated collective action faces in situations of complex crisis. It will generate novel scholarly knowledge that addresses the question of how a heterogeneous collective of actors that transcends organizational and institutional boundaries can establish, sustain, restore, and organize the capacity to act and make appropriate decisions in crisis situations. The expected outco ....Collective action and collaborative governance in crisis situations. This project aims at tackling the challenges that coordinated collective action faces in situations of complex crisis. It will generate novel scholarly knowledge that addresses the question of how a heterogeneous collective of actors that transcends organizational and institutional boundaries can establish, sustain, restore, and organize the capacity to act and make appropriate decisions in crisis situations. The expected outcomes include an improved theoretical understanding of multi-actor collaborative governance in crisis situations by identifying obstacles and governance gaps that need to be overcome. This should provide significant benefits in terms of national and international response strategies to crisis situations of various kind.Read moreRead less
Gender-Lens Investing: Harnessing Social Innovation for Impact. This project aims to investigate how the field of gender-lens investing can be harnessed to address gender inequality and generate social impact. It will generate novel scholarly knowledge that addresses how social innovations like GLI can emerge, grow and be sustained. The expected outcomes include improved theoretical understanding of the organisational and institutional infrastructure required to sustain social innovations by ide ....Gender-Lens Investing: Harnessing Social Innovation for Impact. This project aims to investigate how the field of gender-lens investing can be harnessed to address gender inequality and generate social impact. It will generate novel scholarly knowledge that addresses how social innovations like GLI can emerge, grow and be sustained. The expected outcomes include improved theoretical understanding of the organisational and institutional infrastructure required to sustain social innovations by identifying obstacles and best-practice approaches for growth, organisation and governance. This should provide significant benefits in terms of national and international policies and systems supporting impact investing and addressing Sustainable Development Goals. Read moreRead less
Assessing the Nation's Infrastructure: The Role of Financial and Non-Financial Information. Presently governments do not disclose information about the condition of legacy infrastructure, and the extent of projected (often, non-discretionary) expenditure to repair or upgrade the functionality of those assets. This project builds on an analytical framework developed by Walker Clark & Dean (2000). It examines the viability of alternative proposals for providing information to external stakeholders ....Assessing the Nation's Infrastructure: The Role of Financial and Non-Financial Information. Presently governments do not disclose information about the condition of legacy infrastructure, and the extent of projected (often, non-discretionary) expenditure to repair or upgrade the functionality of those assets. This project builds on an analytical framework developed by Walker Clark & Dean (2000). It examines the viability of alternative proposals for providing information to external stakeholders, on either an agency or ?whole of government? basis. Using a combination of case studies and stated preference data, the study seeks to derive an optimal reporting framework which can assist governments better measure and more effectively manage the nation's infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Examining organisational complexity and clinical risk to improve hospital patients' safety. Improving communicative practices will reduce the massive rate and cost of medication errors and hospital-acquired infections. Current costs of hospital-caused incidents are around AU$2 billion per year. These costs are likely to rise further because hospitals are becoming busier, more culturally and linguistically diverse, less generously resourced per patient, and more technologically capable of keeping ....Examining organisational complexity and clinical risk to improve hospital patients' safety. Improving communicative practices will reduce the massive rate and cost of medication errors and hospital-acquired infections. Current costs of hospital-caused incidents are around AU$2 billion per year. These costs are likely to rise further because hospitals are becoming busier, more culturally and linguistically diverse, less generously resourced per patient, and more technologically capable of keeping sicker patients alive for longer, leading to increased clinical risk and more incidents. This project could save around 20% of the total cost of hospital operations by reducing lengths of stay, lowering re-admission rates and ensuring better deployment of clinical resources.Read moreRead less
Regional Governance in Rural NSW: Emerging Issues and Future Options. Effective service delivery,community development and environmental management are crucial issues for Australian rural communities,albeit varying regionally in type and importance.This project will demonstrate how their quality of provision depends on the structure and capacity of regional governance-including the roles of local and other tiers of government,other institutions,and private actors. It considers the need for flexi ....Regional Governance in Rural NSW: Emerging Issues and Future Options. Effective service delivery,community development and environmental management are crucial issues for Australian rural communities,albeit varying regionally in type and importance.This project will demonstrate how their quality of provision depends on the structure and capacity of regional governance-including the roles of local and other tiers of government,other institutions,and private actors. It considers the need for flexible governance, and for systems of service delivery and management tailored to regional problems and capacities.Although these themes will be developed in a representative sample of three NSW rural regions,the findings will have wider national implications.Read moreRead less
Government Finance Statistics versus Accrual Accounting Standards as the Basis for Financial Reporting and Budgeting on the Operating, Financing and Investing Performance of Governments. More than one third of our economic activity is subject to public expenditure management processes. However, recent decisions of the FRC to harmonize GFS and AASs will fundamentally reshape public sector financial reporting. Harmonization has certain benefits, but the proposal warrants careful consideration as ....Government Finance Statistics versus Accrual Accounting Standards as the Basis for Financial Reporting and Budgeting on the Operating, Financing and Investing Performance of Governments. More than one third of our economic activity is subject to public expenditure management processes. However, recent decisions of the FRC to harmonize GFS and AASs will fundamentally reshape public sector financial reporting. Harmonization has certain benefits, but the proposal warrants careful consideration as it is unclear whether a converged GFS system will better service the needs of the community and enhance public sector accountability more generally. Focusing on the heterogeneous information needs of key stakeholder groups, this study will provide one of the first pioneering empirical investigations of alternative GFS methods and practices in Australia.Read moreRead less
Evaluating communities of practice and social-professional networks: the development, design, testing, refinement, simulation and application of an evaluation framework. Multiple national benefits are realized by this research, including addressing National Research Priority number 3, Promoting and maintaining good health. We will understand more clearly than previously the types of behaviours and attitudes that lead to or inhibit communities and networks, which means we can do something to impr ....Evaluating communities of practice and social-professional networks: the development, design, testing, refinement, simulation and application of an evaluation framework. Multiple national benefits are realized by this research, including addressing National Research Priority number 3, Promoting and maintaining good health. We will understand more clearly than previously the types of behaviours and attitudes that lead to or inhibit communities and networks, which means we can do something to improve these. Team based workplaces can be more productive, socially satisfying and professionally rewarding. Educational programs will benefit from the results and organisations can improve the way they work and treat staff, customers and other stakeholders. We can transfer the results to other industries, Australia's trading partners and the international community.Read moreRead less
Anchoring preventive health care to positive learning: an exploration of local methods of organising and improving clinical practices. Safe health care is the most important treatment factor for patients and families. This project focuses on how clinical professionals achieve quality and safety in their daily practices, by investigating their team processes and communications. The project produces methods and approaches for enhancing the social, organisational and clinical conducts that best rea ....Anchoring preventive health care to positive learning: an exploration of local methods of organising and improving clinical practices. Safe health care is the most important treatment factor for patients and families. This project focuses on how clinical professionals achieve quality and safety in their daily practices, by investigating their team processes and communications. The project produces methods and approaches for enhancing the social, organisational and clinical conducts that best realise high quality and safe care.Read moreRead less