Government Trends 2022
A report from Deloitte Centre for Government Insights has found that in 2022, Governments are seeking to focus on becoming future ready and their report details 10 of the most transformative trends at present. In this article, I’ll include the 7 trends that I personally found most relevant in Australia.
They have been grouped under 3 themes:
Theme 1: Building Resilience
Building resilience is a long-term exercise. The pandemic hasn’t been the only disruption challenging government, there has also been technology shifts, climate change, economic disruption, supply chain issues and more.
Trend 1: Climate-resilient government
To those governments whose mission links to climate change, climate resilience has risen to the top of leaders’ priorities. As an example, city planners are looking into how best to use data analytics to prepare for climate-related disruptions. On a global scale, governments are increasingly investing in resilient infrastructure to enhance communities’ capacity to manage under extreme weather events and ensure disadvantaged communities are not left to suffer.
Trend 2: Reshaping supply chains to improve economic resilience
There are supply chain shortages globally, and in some instances, supply chain problems are putting certain communities’ access to critical goods at risk. As a result, governments are encouraging the reshoring of critical supply chains to reduce external dependencies.
Trend 3: Future-proofing the labour force
Prior to COVID, advances in technology were altering the labour landscape thus widening the mismatch between skills as well as the demand/supply gap for certain roles. Then comes the Great Resignation. Governments are now attempting to bring labour policies in line with this new economic reality with an end goal of future proofing the labour force. Some of these policies include changes to education and skills training.
Theme 2: Connected for greater value
Governments are trying to overcome challenges that hinder their ability to deliver greater impact and address critical issues, such as ecosystem challenges. Data-sharing plays a crucial role by being that connecting thread between agencies.
Trend 4: Building connections for greater impact
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Governments are now creating interagency structures that break down silos and connect government agencies to respond to complex societal needs. In the States, many state and local government agencies have created a “Children’s Cabinets” whereby the heads of departments work towards goals, from early childhood education to disconnected youth programs.
Trend 5: Data-fuelled government
The pandemic highlighted why data-sharing is paramount. However, effective data sharing constitutes for underlying infrastructure such as cloud and advanced data management tools. Consequently, many agencies established a new role – Chief Data Officer.
Theme 3: Government for all the people
During the pandemic, we have seen an influx of diversity, equity, and inclusion topics across our social medias. As governments moved services online during the pandemic, it was critical to improve digital access.
Trend 6: Digital Access for all
“Remote work, virtual classes and telehealth represent just a few of the ways governments used digital tools to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic”. However, this emphasised the digital divide. 40% of the global population lacks internet access. Therefore, departments have been improving digital access. They have also been redesigning digital platforms, ecosystems, and infrastructure to help disadvantaged populations.
Trend 7: Designing for inclusive engagement
Clear communication can help build trust which is important for inclusive engagement. Governments are redesigning their traditional methods of communication and are focusing on how to engage marginalised communities.
According to the 2022-23 Budget, the four major ways in which the government will improve Australia’s quality of life is via strengthening Australia’s defences, stopping cyber, terrorist, and criminal threats, protecting our borders, and preparing for future COVID-19 variants. If we take the goal of preventing cyber-attacks, the Australian Government has already invested $1.7B with Budget including a further $9.9B to deliver a Resilience, Effects, Defence, Space, Intelligence, Cyber and Enablers (REDPSICE) package.
I am very interested to see how our Australia’s stance in these 4 areas and how the 2022 trends shift in a years’ time!
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