Jeff Bennett (Director of the Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School), Henry Ergas (private consultant) and Harry Evans (former Clerk of the Senate).

Governance in the public sector has, to a large extent, been focussed on inward-looking, administrative aspects, with little or no attention given to governance in terms of APS outputs, particularly the key role of providing sound policy advice to ministerial decision-makers.

The speakers will cover a range of topics such as the use of multicriteria analysis, rather than more rigorous cost-benefit analysis; the effectiveness of ?regulatory impact statements? and ?performance indicators? in improving the effectiveness of government agencies; hurdles to information access in the public sector; and the accountability of political parties due to lack of clear governance arrangements.

There will be an opportunity for discussion with other contributors to the special September edition of Agenda