From Oregon to South Australia
and what we’ve learned along the way
Presentation to the
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Tuesday 5 September 2006
By Tanya Smith
Executive Director, Office of the Executive Committee of Cabinet
Our story begins…
• Oregon 1989, new governor asked business
leaders for a plan to turn the economy around.
• Oregon Progress Board created to develop plan
and monitor progress.
• Suspended from 1995-97 then reinstated.
• Jeff Tryens the Executive Director.
• 2000 greater focus on link to budget and on
performance measurement.
• Now looking at getting third iteration going.
Progress Board’s role
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Encourage the discussion and understanding … of
critical global and national … trends that will affect
Oregon in the coming decades;
Submit to Oregonians a strategy that describes and
explains a vision for Oregon's economic, social and
environmental progress for 20 years into the future
Submit to the Legislative Assembly… goals for
Oregon's progress, including measurable indicators
of the achievement of those goals…
Assist state agencies and their partners in developing
performance measures that provide linkages to the
measurable indicators of achievement ….
Brief history
• Oregon Shines
– 1989 focused on economy
– 1997 update focused on economy, community and environment
– Challenge: to find partners and political support for OSIII
• Oregon Benchmarks
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90 quality of life “vital signs”
Measure progress towards Oregon Shines goals
Awards and interest from every state and around the world
Challenge: improving reporting
• Performance Measurement
– Guidelines for agency budget instructions
– Mandatory agency trainings
– Challenge: to find an institutional home
3 Goals: 7 Benchmark Categories
• Quality jobs for all Oregonians
– Economy (17)
– Education (12)
• Engaged, caring and safe communities
– Civic engagement (9)
– Social support (22)
– Public safety (7)
• Healthy, sustainable surroundings
– Community development (7)
– Environment (16)
Oregon’s 90 benchmarks
ECONOMY: Rural employment, trade, new business, job growth, professional services,
economic diversification, research & development, venture capital, cost of doing
business, regulatory burden, income, wages, income disparity, working poor,
unemployment, exports, foreign language
EDUCATION: ready to learn, 3rd & 8th grade reading and math, CIM, dropouts, HS and
college completion, adult literacy, computer/Internet usage, labor force skills training
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: volunteering, voting, feeling of community, understanding taxes,
taxes per income, public management quality, S&P bond rating, arts, libraries
SOCIAL SUPPORT: teen pregnancy, prenatal care, infant mortality, immunizations, HIV,
smoking, premature death, perceived health status, child care slots and affordability,
teen substance abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, alcohol and drug use while
pregnant, poverty, health insurance, homelessness, child support, hunger, seniors
living independently, working disabled, disabled living in poverty
PUBLIC SAFETY: overall crime, juvenile arrests, students carrying weapons, adult and
juvenile recidivism, emergency preparedness
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: traffic congestion, drinking water, commuting, vehicle
miles traveled, road and bridge condition, home ownership, affordable housing
ENVIRONMENT: air quality, CO2 emissions, wetlands gain/loss, stream water quality, instream flow rights, agricultural lands, forest lands, timber harvest, municipal waste
disposal, hazard substance cleanup, freshwater/marine/terrestrial species health,
natural habitat, invasive species, state park acreage
Meanwhile in South Australia…
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Premier Rann inspired by Oregon
Jeff Tryens advises on a plan for SA
Launched March 2004
Executive Committee of Cabinet
(ExComm) established
• First public progress report released
• Update of Plan underway
• Revised version to be released December
Comparisons at-a-glance
“Oregon Shines”
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Began as an economic
strategic plan
20 year vision
Wide community input
Statutory in nature
Oversight by an
Independent board
“Benchmarks” to track
progress
Accessible data
“SA Strategic Plan”
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Holistic from outset
10 year timeframe
Strategic? Vision?
Driven by Government
ExComm oversight
Independent Audit
Committee advises
• Strong tie-in to
performance
• Data less accessible
SA Strategic Plan
• 6 objectives, 84 targets, ±10 years
• Comprehensive, ambitious and
grounded in measurable goals
• Aims for deep, enduring change:
 in how government thinks and operates
 in government’s engagement with and
responsiveness to community
The Six Objectives
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Growing Prosperity
Improving wellbeing
Attaining Sustainability
Fostering Creativity
Building Communities
Expanding Opportunity
How has it been implemented
• Top-down / centre-out:
Cabinet committee oversight (ExComm)
Linkage to CE performance agreements
• Bottom-up / outside-in:
Interest groups and other stakeholders
Boards, peak bodies and advisory councils
• Common denominators:
Awareness, alignment and ownership
How the Audit Committee fits in
• Representatives from five advisory boards
• Operational since August 2004
• Advises ExComm on:
– Interpretation, data sources, measures and
baselines
– Recorded progress/lack of towards targets
• Commitment to 2-yearly public reports
• First was released 30 June
Progress ‘score card’ report
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Independent, ‘spin-free’ snapshot
January 2006 cut-off for most data
Literal interpretation of target achievement
No comment on strategies provided
Five categories assigned:
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At or better than target level 19
On track to achieve in time 24
Progress but unlikely to meet 11
Little/no/backwards progress 11
Unclear – data not available/problematic 19
The good news…
• Strong endorsement of the plan
• Impressive performance towards
achieving the targets overall
• Good, readable report for the public
• Explicit recommendations for updating the
plan
• Will help with advisory board and wider
community “buy-in”
Further work required…
• Target-specific data issues – the 19
unclear targets
• Cross-government data issues – ad hoc,
duplication of effort, confidentiality
concerns
• Regional data – a particular concern
• Wording of targets – allows for “technical”
successes and failures
The ‘unclear’ targets
• No new data available
– Census (e.g. homelessness)
– Source has dried up (e.g. Florida)
– Problems with definitions (e.g. audiovisual
sector)
– Problems with comparators (e.g. costeffectiveness of public service)
– There’s just no measure yet (e.g. regional
infrastructure)
Cross-government data issues
• Lack of coordination
– Duplication of effort (in collection, analysis
and dissemination)
– Patchiness of coverage (agency-led surveys)
– Uncertain regularity (a lot of “one-offs”)
• Reluctance to share
– Who knows who’s doing what?
– Who says we can have that?
Regional data
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What’s a meaningful region?
Very limited
Very dated
No consensus on defining regions
Other localised sources are less reliable or
not credible
Wording of targets
• Technical wins/losses: “Increase
investment in strategic areas of
infrastructure…”
• Baffling concepts: “Raise the lowest
income of South Australians relative to
those of the average South Australian”
• Ambiguous terms: “Reduce the
percentage of South Australians who are
overweight or obese”
Themes in the update
• Go for SMART targets - specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant, time-bound (link to COAG)
• Show interconnections better
• Outputs vs. outcomes and idea of grouping
• Include ‘milestones’ where the target has a long
timeframe
• Disaggregate data – women, Aboriginal, youth
• Better represent regions
• Some gaps to fill – aged, migrants, community
Implementing the updated Plan
• We, in Government, need to be better at
– Strategic planning
– Project management (esp. across agency)
– Aligning people to the plan
– Aligning budgets with the plan
– Evaluation
– Trusting and collaborating with the community
– Data management (collection and use)
Back to the good news
• Still the best thing going – model being
looked at elsewhere
• Is making a difference
• Community is rallying
• Update process will be thorough, with the
right people involved
• Political commitment still evident
• Understanding it’s “horses for courses”
www.saplan.org.au