The Changing Role of Government in Community Services: Issues of Access and Equity to Administrative Review

Abstract

Governments are increasingly moving to privatise, or contract out many community services and functions previously the responsibility of the public sector. Consumers of community services stand to benefit from this trend toward contracting out. However, it is also apparent that there is a need to ensure that improved avenues of review, redress and safeguards accompany these changes in delivery and decision making.

Changing Relations between Government and Citizen: Administrative Law and the Work of the Australian Commonwealth Ombudsman

“…Government has privatised, corporatised and contracted out many services and functions previously the responsibility of the public sector while simultaneously importing from the private sector practices aimed at efficiency and 'value for money' (Tang 1997). The resulting fluidity between the public and the private sector challenges traditional constitutional classifications of what has been thought of as governmental, raising questions over the applicability of administrative law and other public sector accountability mechanisms to decisions of administrators (Allars 1995).…”