What 'whole-of-government' means for environmental policy and management: An analysis of the Connecting Government initiative

Abstract

In this article, we comment on what new ‘whole-of government’ (WG) initiatives mean for environmental policy and management in Australia. In particular, we focus on the recently released Australian Government Management Advisory Committee report, Connecting Government (2004). The nature of WG as a general public policy concept is explored before the relationship between WG and environmental policy and management is explained. Our review of Connecting Government shows it to be conceptually precise, appropriately focused on extra structural issues, such as process and culture, and sensitive to the role of extra-governmental actors (such as community and industry actors) in governance. In addition, it usefully highlights the fact that different approaches to governmental connectivity are required for different kinds of policy problems. While Connecting Government acknowledges an enlarged role for community and industry actors in the formulation and implementation of public policy, it is, unfortunately, largely uncritical of the governance problems that this role potentially entails.