, CEO Asia Society Australia, excerpt from Anthony’s Australia Financial Review Column.
We need to push the boundaries of cooperation between government, business, universities, civil society, diasporas etc. Roundtables and consultation are fine, but what about policy co-design?
In April, the Australian Financial Review Opinion Piece penned by Anthony Bubalo, CEO of Asia Society Australia, stresses the need to utilize our collective expert knowledge and resources when generating Government policy, under the platform of ‘Diplomacy Labs’.
Direct Excerpts: “Diplomacy: Why not incubate major foreign policy in a ‘Diplomacy Lab’ by convening small teams of officials and outside experts to brainstorm, to develop and test policy responses to specific problems or opportunities.
Such an approach would offer 3 types of advantages:
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Removing officials from their line duties for short, concentrated bursts of policy developments with external experts and stakeholders would allow them to focus on more productive initiatives.
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The Lab would give officials the space to contemplate riskier or more creative ideas.
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The Lab would provide an opportunity to integrate a wider range of expertise and perspectives into the policymaking processes right from the beginning – rather than trying to back them in the middle or at the end through some process of consultation.
Read Anthony Bubalo full AFR post and comment HERE+
