At the same time, the Australian public sector has become more efficient, effective and innovative at delivering government services. It is, then, somewhat paradoxical that successive governments at all levels in Australia have been bedevilled by implementation problems, or by programs going off the rails.

There is no one particular cause, more a reflection of a multitude of sins—for example, where policy design has failed to properly take account of the challenges to implementation, resulting in cost overruns, unexpected delays and poor outcomes; or where officials have failed to get across to governments the problems of underinvestment in essential aspects of programs; or where we have not appreciated the time that it might take to get key stakeholders on side; or where officials have not kept their eyes on the target or have let the ball drop; or where we have simply failed to appreciate the higher standards demanded of us today.