We can learn too

November 10, 2025

Professor Andrew Podger certainly had an interesting visit to China and his wide ranging report is appreciated but did he draw the right conclusions? He noted the “strengthening of authoritarian control”, “notwithstanding improvements in public services”.

He goes on to note strengthened party control, the famous China firewall, ubiquitous face-recognition cameras; then comments, “And yet, the forums I attended reveal… continued effort to improve services to the public and their efficiency.” How can this be? Maybe, just maybe, there has been an ‘authoritarian dictat’ to improve services to the public!

Unthinkable.

The unqualified statement, “The overall (Chinese) model impinges on human rights in way we should never accept” by someone who has written extensively about the Robodebt scandal has a strange feel; could Robodebt have happened in China? How would it have been resolved? We are still waiting!

There are references to China encouraging “other countries to follow its authoritarian approach”, “to displace democratisation reforms in the Global South” but no details as to the countries involved.

Maybe it is us that could learn from China to improve public administration here and reduce the circumstances when “we must disagree”.