Continue to engage the APS with an open mind.
Public servants won’t be able to improve engagement alone. For engagement to improve policy, programs and service delivery in Australia, public servants need the public to continue to work constructively with them.
For citizens who might be sceptical about government engagement, this Framework is evidence of a serious commitment to improve engagement, and evidence that the public should persevere in their engagements with government. Public servants have significant and legitimate constraints in their work that can make engagement challenging. But most are practical, and are happy to go an extra mile in an engagement if it will really help them in their work. In fact, many will be very determined to try to make an engagement succeed.
Moreover, the guidance materials held in the Framework are useful tools for the public in their engagements with government. While they are tailored to public servants, their users, and their operating environment, they could be applied in any scenario where lots of different people need to build a dialogue about complex issues.
The Framework asks the public to continue to engage with an open mind. As previously noted, trust is central to successful engagement. The Framework argues that if government and public servants want more trust from citizens, they will have to trust them more. This commitment has created a real opportunity that the public should seize. The more that engagement is approached with a constructive mindset, the more benefits flow from it.