Michael Andrew Heazle

Towards networked governance: improving interagency communication and collaboration for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in Australia

Major disasters, such as bushfires or floods, place significant stress on scarce public resources. Climate change is likely to exacerbate this stress. An integrated approach to disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) could reduce the stress by encouraging the more efficient use of pooled resources and expertise. A comparative analysis of three extreme climate-related events that occurred in Australia between 2009 and 2011 indicated that a strategy to improve interagency communication and collaboration would be a key factor in this type of policy/planning integration. These findings are in accord with the concepts of Joined-up Government and Network Governance. Five key reforms are proposed: developing a shared policy vision; adopting multi-level planning; integrating legislation; networking organisations; and establishing cooperative funding. These reforms are examined with reference to the related research literature in order to identify potential problems associated with their implementation. The findings are relevant for public policy generally but are particularly useful for CCA and DRM.

Explaining Australia–Japan security cooperation and its prospects: ‘the interests that bind?’

ABSTRACT In this paper, we assess the drivers of, and prospects for, further security cooperation in the Australia–Japan bilateral relationship. We argue that while balance of threat and capability gaps may restrain the pace of deepening Australian-Japan security relations, these gaps are diminishing and are, in any case, secondary to the specific shared interests we posit as the primary drivers of Australia–Japan security cooperation. These specific interests, however, are shaped not only by a commitment in both countries to liberal-based principles and freedoms at home and in inter-state relations, but also by a common awareness of the importance of continued US primacy to the ongoing maintenance of those interests. Thus, in the absence of any fundamental change in how Australia and Japan understand their respective interests and the US role in the region, Donald Trumps recent and unexpected election as US president notwithstanding, we conclude that the case for further security cooperation – via additional cross-bracing of their respective US alliance relationships – will almost certainly remain compelling for both countries.

Climate Change and the Politics of Uncertainty: Lessons from Iraq

A fundamental obstacle to more effective management of uncertainty in wicked policy problems is a collective failure during policy debates to recognize that our values and interests not only shape the way we look at science and expert advice, but that they also drive disagreement over how problems should be identified, prioritized, and responded to. The sooner these values can be openly debated, I argue, the sooner competition between goals and priorities can be resolved, thereby allowing disputes over uncertainty in competing specialist advice to be overcome. Science will then be able to concentrate on the task of how best to achieve, as opposed to expecting it to somehow determine, what is politically acceptable.