The Westminster Tradition
Unpacking lessons for the public service, starting with the Robodebt Royal Commission.
In 2019, after three years, Robodebt was found to be unlawful. The Royal Commission process found it was also immoral and wildly inaccurate.
In 2019, after three years, Robodebt was found to be unlawful. The Royal Commission process found it was also immoral and wildly inaccurate.
Ultimately the Australian Government was forced to pay $1.8bn back to more than 470,000 Australians.
In this podcast we dive deep into public policy failures like Robodebt and the British Post Office scandal - how they start, why they're hard to stop, and the public service lessons we shouldn't forget.
Podcasting since 2023 • 61 episodes
The Westminster Tradition
Latest Episodes
Regulator/policy cage fight: ANZSOG National Regulators Community of Practice Conference 2025
Our first live show at the wildly successful ANZSOG NRCOP Conference in Brisbane August 2025.The conversation tackles head-on the structural disconnections between our regulatory and policy systems, particularly in federated models like ...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 18
•
48:33
The Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP: Lessons from a Veteran Minister
What makes someone qualified to be a minister? In this candid conversation with Tom Koutsantonis, South Australia's longest-serving current parliamentarian, Danielle explores the fascinating intersection where political leadership meets public ...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 17
•
48:49
The Billion-Dollar Payroll Disaster: lessons from Queensland Health’s Payroll System
In this episode, Danielle, Caroline and Alison look at ANOTHER big ICT transformation project, with enormous human impacts and a long and expensive clean up. The Queensland Health payroll system failure ranks as one of Australia's w...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 16
•
42:14
Working from home: when flexibility becomes political
In this episode, we dive into Danielle’s favourite topic - work place flexibility. Public servants working from home has become a visible fault line in Australian politics and media, revealing deeper questions about productivity, surveillance, ...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 15
•
43:50
The Radical How: Why one big bet is government’s riskiest move
What if the real problem in public service reform isn't what we're trying to do, but how we're trying to do it? Caroline, Danielle, and Alison dive deep into a revolutionary approach to government change by examining
•
Season 3
•
Episode 14
•
51:07
