The Westminster Tradition

Unpacking lessons for the public service, starting with the Robodebt Royal Commission.
In 2019, after three years, Robodebt was found to be unlawful. The Royal Commission process found it was also immoral and wildly inaccurate.

Ultimately the Australian Government was forced to pay $1.8bn back to more than 470,000 Australians.

In this podcast we dive deep into public policy failures like Robodebt and the British Post Office scandal - how they start, why they're hard to stop, and the public service lessons we shouldn't forget.

All Episodes

The Westminster Tradition

How to do Big Reform

January 13, 2026 • The Westminster Tradition

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 thewestminstertraditionpod@gmail.com.

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!