The New Transport Department, the RTA and Outcomes Management

The colonial model was set on the first days of the colony. Next to the Governor the most important colonial officeholder was the Surveyor General. His office consisted of separate division of surveyors, administrative clerks, draftsmen, and chainmen.  Except for chainmen, membership of each division needed specialist qualifications.  It was assumed you starting work at the bottom and, over a lifetime’s career; you should have made it close to the top, even becoming the SG.

This model was replicated in almost all other agencies, and in local government. 

The problem was the model ensured that agencies proliferated as colonial life became more complex. 

For example, when the SG reserved unalienated Crown Land for forestry, it was recognised that specialist land managers were needed.  As a Forester is not a Surveyor, if foresters were to be employed, a separate employment category and division were needed. In time, this division became The Forest Commission.

In these specialist colonial bodies, the members of the core guild were paramount.  A high price is set on guild solidarity. Not so long ago in the Victorian Forest Commission, the Secretary, being the head of the administration staff, wrote up the Minutes of the Commission from the notebooks of the three Commissioners. Being a mere clerk, he could not attend Commission meetings.

Also paramount was protection of the role and function of the agency, which was the production of the goods or services that were the outputs of the specialist inputs of each guild.  Surveyors produce surveys, draftsmen make maps from the information, while administration staff support the guilds by writing correspondence and minutes.  

It is difficult to pursue changed outcomes when the government consists of guild organisations.  Stated outcomes may change, but whatever the outcomes in the ‘strategic plan’, the answer will always be the continued production of whatever it is the guild organisation produces.  

For example, Planners produce plans.  With each parcel of land is Sydney now legally affected by well over 40 statutory plans, in output terms the Planning Department clearly seems to have been a success. However, not everyone would judge the outcomes to have been so successful.

Does Structure Matter?

Many commentators, and especially supporters of the existing agencies, criticise those with a concern about the structure of organisations.  But history and structure matter. Unless the design of agencies and the jobs within them are fundamentally changed from the bottom up, directions from the top to pursue different outcomes inevitably will fail.

The RTA

Take for example, the Roads and Traffic Authority, a typical colonial structured agency even if it did not first appear until after WW I.