Devolution Revolution: Will Fewer Fat Cats Help to Keep the Customers Satisfied?

A devolution revolution is underway as governments across Australia seek to make frontline public servants more autonomous. It's a backlash to the command-and-control style of bureaucrats and policy makers who, experts say, are too far removed to know what their "customers" really want or need. Gary Sturgess, the inaugural Premier's Australian and New Zealand School of GovernmentChair in Public Service Delivery at the University of New South Wales, is leading research into how to make the public service more customer-centric. The former state cabinet secretary says giving greater discretion to frontline public servants – and cutting the middle level of controlling bureaucrats – could shave 20% off government budgets.