The Westminster Tradition

We kick off a new series on 'Mad Cow Disease', or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), and what it teaches us about governing when the science is uncertain, the consequences are enormous, but the risks are very remote.
Why BSE became a lasting symbol of government failure and secrecy, even though major inquiries later found decisions were largely science led.  
Where to draw the line for regulatory settings with big market consequences. 
Who really decides when portfolios collide, and who pays. 
Why Pedigree pet food had a surprising influence on the risk ‘appetite’
Whether there is the authorising environment to act beyond the scientific advice.
Spoiler alert: “over reacting” and “under reacting” are not opposites, they overlap. 
The brilliant podcast, ‘The Cows are Mad’ by BBC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rrhy/episodes/player
The West Wing: Season 3, episode 9 (featuring Mad Cow disease).
https://youtu.be/ouBr3F2qWMI?si=uecMkFaQFnMGVvyL&t=220

This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

We want to make lasting and meaningful change, but how do we get there? In this special episode Caroline interviews Frances Foster-Thorpe and Jason Tabarias about their insights into the skills and frameworks needed to tackle large, complex and ambitious reform.
We cover: 
Biting off what you can chew by picking two of three factors: volume, cost, quality
Examples of big Australian reforms that did and didn't hit the mark
Lining up stakeholder expectations, the authorising environment, and operational capability
Stretching the political window of opportunity by looking up and out
Why sequencing can be a more productive conversation than prioritisation
Proposals that are needs or community-led, evidence based and implementation-ready 
Making cross-system collaboration work: everyone is a colleague, everyone has valuable knowledge, and everyone is responsible for doing as much as we can 
Tips for system diplomats and working with system diplomats
Mark Moore's strategic triangle 
The Three Horizons Framework
Geoff Mulgan 'The Art of Public Strategy'
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

Buy a sports car or start a podcast. It all could have gone the way of a new hobby, with audio kit languishing in a drawer. Instead, this podcast has become a study and celebration of the tricky craft of public service, and it's a source of pure joy for us. 
Reflecting on three years of TWT: 
Humble and haphazard beginnings
What’s changed since the Robodebt Royal Commission 
Our favourite interviews, scandals, episodes
Lifting the veil on moments of chaos
Our favourite moments with listeners (and do we need an identifier for the TWT listener cohort?)
Learnings on the journey and things we’ve changed our minds on
And that’s a wrap for 2025. Till next year!
Alison listing all the places we’ve “recorded” sounds remarkably like Shaggy… https://youtu.be/p4qqOHllgps?si=uEHlcD6JMW9Jabng 
‘Abundance: How We Build a Better Future’ by Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson: https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Ezra-Klein,-Derek-Thompson-Abundance-9781805226055
Nigella Lawson reading ‘How to eat’ https://www.audible.com.au/pd/How-to-Eat-The-Pleasures-and-Principles-of-Good-Food-Audiobook/1473567351
Colin Firth’s indecent gravel: https://www.amazon.com/The-End-of-Affair-Graham-Greene-audiobook/dp/B0081293SO 
Anything narrated by Richard Roxburgh https://www.audible.com.au/search?searchNarrator=Richard+Roxburgh&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=C0M8084B840VVEERZRJ5&plink=IArL51tFosgDIpzy&pageLoadId=FlLq75E1cuzEn4oS&creativeId=adcc4fec-4d90-49d1-997e-8be21d68ce7f&ref=a_search_c3_lNarrator_1_2_1
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

In this Christmas special, Caroline, Alison and Danielle unwrap the public service’s most gear-grinding buzzwords, what they’re supposed to mean and what they have now quietly become. With words crowdsourced from the fine listeners of TWT, we talk:
Big serious words and how their technical meanings have drifted
The corporate visitors who arrived and never left
Words that hide fear or indecision 
How co-design can be a handbrake, and why government struggles to set boundaries on what is genuinely up for shaping.
Word of the year: nature-positive 
The brilliant book that Alison refers to is ‘The Right Kind of Wrong’ by Amy Edmondson: https://www.dymocks.com.au/right-kind-of-wrong-by-amy-edmondson-9781847943781

This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

Your shiny new promotion turns out to be more than you bargained for. 
In this scenario-based "Imagine if..." episode, Caroline and Danielle assume the role of a newly promoted manager who steps into a team they didn’t choose and some character-building challenges. 
⚠️ Mild trigger warning for the depiction of toxic colleagues - we've all had one!
We cover: 
Walking the floor and gathering intel
How to give the boss response to a credibility challenge
Clarifying the authorising environment 
Lifting work quality 
When to whip out the whiteboard to create a two-way learning exercise 
Setting a vision and direction for the team that’s sensitive to the past 
Responding to bad behaviour that’s not quite misconduct
To report or not to report; the risks of weighing in
Good egg managers in the Re Meagher case
https://hearsay.org.au/graduate-lawyer-fails-in-fair-work-act-bullying-claim/
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!