EP #03: How to successfully engage citizens

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Damian Carmichael is from the Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science and leading in the development of a framework that will change how the Australian Government operates. Supporting the 2016-2018 and 2018-2020 Open Government National Plan, his role is to design and implement tools that will enhance public engagement and participation in policy development and delivery.

According to Damian, step one was to understand what problems that currently underlie the Australian Government. His advice for such a large task? Google it. Find the experts of the field, find the papers that explore these problems, and track these changes over time.

What Damian and his team found was the growing complexity in Australia’s political landscape specifically in policy and trust. So, what has Damian done to combat this? Find out in this week’s episode as David explores his four-step approach to engage citizens.

Discussed in this episode:

• The importance of initial research
• Looking to local and state-level governments to find the answer to federal level problems
• A four-step approach to engaging citizens and restore trust
• Breaking through barriers, whether they are culturally or capability-based
• The Ontario Provincial Government Engagement Framework
• Tracking the prototype product
• What this means for the future of the Australian Public Sector