Short-Term Solutions or Durable Horizontal Management?

Sharing services has been a fashionable approach in many jurisdictions, but not for the Australian public service, which was slow to take up this option for back office functions. Previous experiments by a neo-liberal government with outsourcing corporate services had produced mix results and were discontinued as an overall strategy (although not for specific tasks). An extended period of austerity and government fixation on efficiencies has prompted the growth in shared services. It also resonates well with the injunctions for integrated government in all significant spheres of activity. The paper will examine the circumstances under which department and agencies have adopted shared services, the impact on their governance and operations, and the tensions between vertical and horizontal organisation, with particular reference to the implications for the department of state.