By Angela Dorizas

The Australian National Institute for Public Policy was launched this week at the Australian National University.

Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said the Institute would strengthen public policy capabilities across the Australian Public Service.

“We have set ambitious goals for a richer, fairer and greener Australia and we cannot deliver them without public servants of the highest calibre,” Senator Carr said.

“I am proud to launch a new Institute that will underpin the new culture of innovation we mean to embed at the heart of the public service.”

The Institute was established in response to key recommendations in the Moran report, Ahead of the Game.

Senator Carr said the Commonwealth would invest more than $112 million in the Institute over the next four years.

“It will pay for itself many times over by reinforcing the public policy capabilities of the APS,” he said.

“I trust it will save more than a few dollars in consultancy fees along the way.”

Senator Carr said it would be a “truly national institution”, bringing together the expertise of the ANU’s schools and centres, including the Crawford School of Economics and Government, National Security College and Australian Centre on China in the World. The Institute will also host the new HC Coombs Policy Forum.

Senator Carr likened the new Institute to the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School in the US.

“[The Harvard Kennedy School] generates new thinking by breaking down barriers between research disciplines,” he said.

“It has become a magnet to young people, academics, senior public servants and political leaders alike. They are drawn from all across the world by the shared belief that, through collaboration, they can remake the world.

“And that must be our vision for the Australian National Institute for Public Policy.”

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