ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the use of performance measurement to allocate public sector resources. It shows how Australia in particular has adopted this with enthusiasm, but the reality has not matched the promise. Flaws in data, the gaming by managers that inevitably accompanies the setting of targets, and the sheer difficulty across most of the public services in setting reliable and accurate measures have undermined attempts to allocate resources on the basis of performance. The solution is argued to be to sever the connection between budgets and measures, and to invite the end users to play a bigger role in helping to identify performance measures.
