Assessing Government’s Performance Management Capability: the Case of the Australian Electricity Industry

When governments open up opportunities for private investment in traditional public sector areas, it is increasingly clear that a useful range of performance management information needs to be available to both government and business. Government needs to know how it is performing, comparatively, within and beyond its own domain, for the development of public policy and productivity enhancement. Business needs to know, understand and monitor the industry environment in which investment is contemplated or has already taken place. Performance measurement and monitoring is especially important where governments wish to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to their shores. Whether governments manage performance and information well or are still constrained by bureaucratic and political thinking is still at issue. Using the example of the contrived national electricity market in Australia, this article, through literature and document review, examines the likely value to government and business of performance information, now available in the public domain. First, the article considers some of the changes to the Australian electricity industry. Second, specific performance indicators relevant to the national electricity market are examined in terms of their utility for government and business decision-making. Third, the impact of the political environment on performance management information is explored. The article concludes that while some important quantitative performance management information is available in a rational sense, other more political, qualitative indicators also need to be taken into account.