By Brigid van Wanrooy, Director, Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO)
It's more critical than ever to stay up to date with the latest insights and developments in policy and research, both here in Australia and internationally. Working in government, it can feel impossible to keep up with the sheer volume of information on societal changes and new policy developments that will impact your work.
APOgov is a new and completely free service designed specifically for Australian public servants who want to make evidence-informed decisions without the information overload.
The Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO) supports evidence-informed decision-making by sourcing and curating policy and research from across government, academia, not-for-profits and consultancies. APO’s searchable digital repository of more than 43,000 resources is updated daily. APO also delivers free weekly newsletters to people working across all levels of government and in the broader policy and service delivery ecosystem.
How APOgov works in your daily routine
APOgov gives you easy access to policy and research that is relevant to your work – making it simple to incorporate into your everyday activities.
Delivered straight to your inbox. Set up saved search alerts for must-see policy and research. You will receive an email when a new publication matching your search criteria is added to APO – that day.
You will no longer rely on a studious colleague to send you that must-have report or worry that you’ll stumble across a key policy after you have delivered that brief.
Targeted newsletters that matter. Every fortnight, receive a digest of all the policy and research that has been published in your area of work. Choose from 8 subject-based newsletters that speak directly to your portfolio.
For anyone in the public service, you can’t go past the Government newsletter for the latest insights and guides on all things policymaking including co-design, evaluation, innovation and regulation.
Access your own policy feed. Every time you log in to APOgov you will be met with your own personalised feed of the latest research and analysis. It's like a LinkedIn feed but it’s evidence-based!
And if you want to post a report you found on APO on LinkedIn – you can do that too – direct from any resource page.
The 'read later' lifesaver. Found something interesting but swamped right now? Save it to your read later list. Creating a reference list for a rapid evidence review or policy report? Add them to your read later list and export it to excel or your bibliography app.
Getting into the detail. Haven’t been able to find what you are looking for? Have the chart but not the source? Search Plus enables you to conduct advanced searches of the entire APO repository including all full-text documents.
Getting started is easy
You’re invited to explore this valuable resource and integrate it into your daily work to enhance policy development and service delivery. It’s as simple as signing up to APO using your government email address. You’ll receive a confirmation email and will be asked to answer six quick questions about your work.
If you haven’t used APO before, join the thousands across government who have. Many members of the APS already subscribe to our free newsletters and as one of them shared:
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Another public servant working in South Australia has told us:
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The story behind the service
APO is an open access evidence platform that makes public policy research and resources accessible and useable. As a unique public good with a trusted reputation, APO champions open access and evidence-informed decision-making.
APO was founded in 2002 at Swinburne University. In 2024, APO partnered with McKinnon. With a commitment to empowering better governments for a stronger Australia, McKinnon is providing the public sector with the tools to deliver evidence-based policymaking.