The role of performance measures in a federal-state context: The examples of housing and disability services

High hopes were held for performance measures in the reform of the administration of joint federal-state programs in the early 1990s. They were seen as enabling the Commonwealth to take a 'hands-off' role in the administration of joint programs and as ensuring the accountability of the states to the Commonwealth in a direct way through the application of sanctions for non-performance. Despite considerable effort in developing performance measures their role became confined to achieving accountability in an indirect way through negotiations on policy. This article examines the operation of performance indicators under the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement and the Commonwealth State Disability Agreement to identify why the earlier intentions for performance measures could not be achieved.