Adam Graycar Speeches

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Adam Graycar was a lecturer Social Policy at Flinders until his departure in 1980 to become the Foundation Director of the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. In the intervening decades he has held a wide range of academic and government posts. In 2015 he returned as strategic professor in public policy.

He acquired extensive policy experience over 22 years in the senior level posts he has held in government, both Federal and State. His most recent government position was Head, Cabinet Office, Government of South Australia (2003-2007). He also had nine years (1994-2003) as head of a Commonwealth Statutory Authority, the Australian Institute of Criminology a government agency whose task is to provide quality information and conduct policy oriented research. He was also the nation’s first Commissioner for the Ageing (1985-1990).

Before returning to Flinders his most recent academic posts were Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University, and before that, Dean and Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

He has worked in many public policy domains and his current work is on integrity and corruption prevention in Australia and internationally. He is working closely with international agencies such as the United Nations (UNODC) and the World Bank, as well as teaching specialist courses in leading universities in Asia, Europe and North America.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 20 of 236
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    Demographic changes
    (2006-06) Graycar, Adam
    Notes of a speech regarding demographic changes, age expectancies, improvements in health care, influences on public policies and services provided by the Government.
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    Recognition of overseas skills
    (2006-11) Graycar, Adam
    On 10 February 2006, COAG agreed to a new national approach to apprenticeships, training and skills recognition to help alleviate skill shortages currently evident in many parts of the country. COAG decided there was need for a new streamlined system for the recognition of overseas qualifications to make it easier for migrants with skills to work as soon as they reach Australia. This does not mean that there will be a reduction in the quality we expect of those working in Australian. We will still require Australian standards to be met.
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    COAG National Reform Agenda: human capital
    (2006-09) Graycar, Adam
    Challenges for the South Australian Government in the coming years include ageing population, skills shortages, changing international markets, national reform, policies for health and education.
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    ID security
    (2006-05) Graycar, Adam
    Slides of a presentation outlining the National Identity Security Strategy and working group structure of the South Australian Government in response to identity-related fraud and theft.
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    Central agencies - do they lead or just tread on toes? Leadership or treading on toes?
    (2007-05) Graycar, Adam
    Central agencies justify their existence by being both required and able to see the big picture, to rise above the constraints of agency boundaries and pursue a whole of government agenda. One would expect that the quality of leadership demonstrated by central agencies would always achieve results, but there are times when brutality gets results - rough justice which involves treading on toes. Leadership and treading on toes are gentle euphemisms. What I really mean is policy by leading and persuading on the one hand, and policy by telling and constricting on the other.
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    Recognising plumbers
    (2006-11) Graycar, Adam
    The Mutual Recognition Act 1992 is supposed to address the problem of skilled labour licenses being in isolation in each State, plumbing being one of them. The aim is to make it easier for skilled workers to move between States and Territories. COAG has established a Steering Committee which lead to a Plumbers Action Group. Many licenses are in the scope, such as builders, motor repairers, air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanics, joiners, carpenters, bricklayers and electricians.
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    ID related fraud cases
    (2006-05) Graycar, Adam
    A selection of identity-related fraud cases (mid 1990s - early 00s).
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    How Cabinet 'really' works
    (2005-05) Graycar, Adam
    Gives an overview of the role of the South Australian Government, role of Cabinet, role of the Public Service, public policy development, Government budgets, population and demographics of South Australia.
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    A population policy for South Australia: policy update
    (2005-06) Graycar, Adam
    An update of previous presentations titled 'A population policy for South Australia: prosperity through people'. Gives an overview of the role of Government, role of Cabinet, role of the Public Service, public policy development, Government budgets, population and demographics of South Australia.
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    Role of Governments, Cabinet and the Public Service
    (2005-10) Graycar, Adam
    Gives an overview of the role of the South Australian Government, role of Cabinet, role of the Public Service, public policy development, Government budgets, population and demographics of South Australia.
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    Whole of Government challenges for policy development: complex workings of state Government and the approach to policy development
    (2005-04) Graycar, Adam
    Gives an overview of the role of Government, role of Cabinet, role of the Public Service, public policy development, population and demographics of South Australia.
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    IPAA workshop: how to write Cabinet submissions
    (2005-12) Graycar, Adam
    Gives an overview of the role of the South Australian Government, the role of Cabinet, the role of the public service, public policy development, policy-making.
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    A population policy for South Australia: prosperity through people
    (2004-12) Graycar, Adam
    Speeches discuss demographic trends in South Australia, population projections, population policy objectives, key initiatives and longer term responses.
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    Drivers, risks and opportunities
    (2005-04) Graycar, Adam
    Snapshot of the SA Government, role of Cabinet, Cabinet's workload, policy-making process, political issue drivers behind Government's policy agenda, and South Australia's strategic plan.
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    Launch of SA Policy Online
    (2004-10) Graycar, Adam
    SA Policy Online was a new website featuring the latest public policy research on everything from education and health to water and the media. It was a collaboration between UniSA's Hawke Research Institute, the Flinders Institute of Public Policy and Management, and Adelaide University's Australian Institute for Social Research.
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    The role of Governments, Cabinet and the Public Service
    (2005-04) Graycar, Adam
    Speech explains how Government and Cabinet work, structure of the SA Government, what Governments do, role of Ministers, role of Cabinet, role of the Public Service, policy-making and Parliamentary processes.
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    A population policy for South Australia
    (2004-05) Graycar, Adam
    Current research is predicting South Australia's population will go into long-term decline within 25 years. Statistics of populations within South Australia are presented along with the reasons for this projection, such as the ageing population, education and training, distribution and composition of populations, along with broader economic, social and environmental objectives.
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    Evidence-based decision making
    (2004-05) Graycar, Adam
    Discusses the requirement for obtaining evidence for policy makers, collecting and analysing data, and (1) how is evidence assembled, and (2) how much does evidence impact on policy.
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    Launch of Flinders Institute of Public Policy and Management (FIPPM)
    (2004-08) Graycar, Adam
    How do we develop and maintain the skills to deal with the hardest policy questions - about people and their lives and aspirations, about the industrial climate, about the sustainability of our national resources, about the protection of our borders? The foundations of our public service haven't changed. While a lot of program delivery will be handled by contractors, and a lot of routine transactions conducted on-line, the primary role for public servants will be as policy developers, policy analysts, evaluators and evidence seekers, knowledge brokers and consensus builders, and they need to be well educated to do this. We want to work in partnership across government, but also very importantly in partnership with our academic colleagues. ... lots of challenges for us in government and lots of challenges for academia, and I commend Flinders University, and look forward to strong working relationships between government and academia.
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    Risk management strategies in Cabinet submissions: the new Cabinet guidelines achieving the requirements for the risk of management strategy
    (2003-11) Graycar, Adam
    Summarises the new Cabinet structure and its guidelines to manage risks for South Australia. Covers health services, declining tax base, electricity privatisation, invasion of Iraq, Clean Air Abatement Policy, population, employment, water supply.