The evidence from international and sectoral studies of service delivery is that public sector leaders around the world are facing a common set of challenges to meet the increased expectations of their ‘customers’, ‘clients’, or ‘citizens’ in an era of declining public trust3; however, while the challenges may be consistent, the ways in which they are being confronted, and the results that are being achieved, vary considerably.
A common challenge faced by every organisation (public and private), and particularly the Australian public service (APS), is how to better service its clients, citizens and businesses, and at a sustainable price. To address this, the APS needs to find ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its service delivery functions.
This challenge is particularly acute in regional and rural Australia where, as identified by the Citizen Experience Survey, citizens have a lower level of trust in Australian public services compared to their urban counterparts. In regional and remote Australia effective and efficient service delivery is potentially compromised by a combination of the ‘tyranny of distance’, the absence of critical population mass, idiosyncratic demography, sporadic smart phone and internet access, and the difficulty of attracting and maintaining core capabilities.
This reduced trust in Australian public services is prompting the APS to explore new, sustainable models for regional service delivery: models that can improve user experience and outcomes through enhanced service levels at the same or reduced cost. The first stage in this process of discovery is to give voice to the diverse views of users, to make sense of their journeys through the service system, and, to use their insights to improve the citizen experience. The Regional trust in Australian public services project gives voice to these insights.
3 It is noteworthy that the APS does not have a common language in this regard.