Who wouldn’t want more efficiency? Analysing the construction of efficiency as a ‘truth’ within policy discourses

Abstract

The discourse of Australian public policy refers regularly to the concept of ‘efficiency’ as though the meaning of this term is self-evident and shared by all stakeholders in the policy process. Efficiency is constructed as a primary objective of policy, as an ambition which is unequivocally ‘good’. This focuses discussion on what policy change is needed to maximise efficiency, rather than the more pertinent question, of ‘Why efficiency?’ This article examines how efficiency is described and justified in a collection of Australian policy documents produced in the past 25 years by government departments, agencies and inquiries, and by mainstream lobby groups and consulting firms. These policy documents portray efficiency as essential in raising consumers’ living standards. In turn, living standards are narrowed, centring on satisfaction of consumers’ wants through markets, by firms. I build on Pusey’s argument that efficiency injures, rather than improves, quality of life for many people. Measures in the interests of maximising efficiency, such as casualisation, outsourcing and disaggregation of jobs, have contributed to an increasingly insecure existence for many, particularly those on society’s margins. As a result, I argue that rather than seeking to maximise efficiency for the betterment of society, efficiency is pursued in spite of society.