Cabinet Congestion: The Growth of a Ministerial Maze
Governments adopt different designs of the number of Ministers, portfolios and Departments that they create. The more there are, the more complex the task of coordination. This is great study of the complexity created by the current design in New Zealand and the comparison with other countries...
Is the political system letting down the Australian public?
An excellent speech from Michelle Grattan that looks at declining trust in institutions and what needs to be done. She calls for a Royal Commission into the public service...
Budget Paper Number 1: Budget Strategy and Outlook
This Australian budget paper includes a section on 'measuring what matters', which provides an outline of a move towards a 'well-being' budget. You should skim pages 119 - 142...
Transparency International - Corruption Perceptions Index
Australia has climbed six places to be 13th while New Zealand remains third ranked country. Hopefully, this is the beginning of Australia’s climb back into the top 10 countries...
Big Breakthrough in NSW Governance
The NSW Legislative Council now requires that every government bill be accompanied by a statement of public interest. It is worth looking at the details. Expect more jurisdictions to follow...
An excellent article by Sean Innis and Ryan Young from the ANU, which was first published in the Mandarin. Government has not paid sufficient attention to trust, which has too often been sacrificed to achieve short term objectives. Trust is hard won and easily lost...
Trust in government on the rise
The 2019 results of the Edelman trust survey have been announced. Australians are pessimistic about their economic future and we have a very large gap between the perceptions of the educated elite and those who are not in this group...
Economics, Politics and Infrastructure
Speech by Gary Banks AO to Infrastructure Partnerships Australia. Gary looks at the state of policy development and government decision making in Australia and laments a lack of leadership, an erosion of policy capacity and an aversion to making decisions based on good evidence...
Parliamentary Library Briefing for new MPs and Senators
Ever wondered where MPs, Senators and their staff get their information? Well, here it is - look up your area of responsibility to see what they are being told...
An uncut version of 'The Killing Season'
The program which charted the downfall of PM's Rudd and Gillard. Sarah Henderson tells the story behind the documentary…
The Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) Review of the 2014 State Election. Dr David Kemp led this Review. It is worth reading to understand the Party's view of the role of the Ministers, of Advisers and of the public service…
Following suit: why political conventions matter
Political conventions matter: under the Westminster system they shape the interaction between Ministers and public servants. The first in a series of articles by Professor Richard Mulgan...
Victorian budget: agency winners and losers...
History Repeats article from The Monthly
An excellent article by George Megalogenis on the current state of politics in Australia...
Corruption amongst former Victorian senior executives
A remarkable article about former Victorian Department of Education and Training senior executives...