Private sector sparks inspiration for federal government to innovate: Bishop

Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop has admitted the federal government can learn a lot from the private sector in how it can do things more efficiently, effectively, and productively with tax payers' dollars. Speaking at the Vivid Ideas panel, Drones for Good, Bishop said that much like how the private sectors have begun working with startups, she has established in her own portfolio an ideas hub, dubbed the Innovation Exchange, to find new ways to solve foreign aid development challenges that exist in the region with the help of others. She said the Department of Foreign Affairs is already working with a mix of people from the private sector, public sector, the United States, and the World Bank such as Michael Bloomberg and Ryan Stokes. "We've got to do things differently to get better outcomes," she said, acknowledging the government needs to be an "exemplar" when it comes to innovation. One of the earliest examples of when the government worked with the private sector, according to Bishop, was looking into how to improve the delivery of pharmaceuticals to remote areas of Papua New Guinea. "People were still dying ... and yet kids were still getting access to cans of coke.