The DSS and Centrelink understood the challenges of new relationships at the outset, yet despite the recognition of the need for partnerships and work on cultivating the relationship, weaknesses surfaced and dominated for some time. They derived mainly from the purchaser–provider and financial arrangements.
The debates about the roles of the purchasing department and the provider agency derived from the combinations of models that could be discerned in Centrelink’s organisational imperatives. In particular, there were the different interpretations about the relative importance of managerial dimensions as expressed through purchaser–provider principles and partnerships.
The central relationship between Centrelink and DFaCS
has been perpetually hampered by an uncertainty as to its nature. There is a tension between the collegiate partnership sought by managers and the formalism of purchaser–provider. The former posits mutual objectives and enjoins trust and co-operation; the latter encourages formalism and caution as to the other’s motives. This tension has flowed through to relationships at all levels in the two organisations. (Rowlands 2003)
The formal legislative framework produced detailed specification of DFaCS’ requirements that increased with time, leading to claims of micromanagement by Centrelink. In this environment, it can be difficult to handle contingencies that require resources to be moved between tasks in the short term unless effective relationships exist between managers (Rowlands 2003).
At the same time, purchaser–provider relationships remained unrealised through the appropriate performance information including output prices. There were also difficulties in other portfolios with purchasing agreements at this time, a notable example being the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (Tucker 2008).
The models differentiated earlier continued to contribute to the ambiguity in Centrelink’s environment. There were attempts to mitigate the environmental ambiguity through relegation of two of them and some reworking of the features of others. The emphasis on partnerships facilitated more productive relationships, but the structural features of the original design of Centrelink meant that tensions remained and that much energy had to be channelled into working though the creative options.