The True History of the Bureaucracy Gang
Reflections on the decay of the public service in Australia and liberal democracies
Major inquiries in Australia in the last few years have devastated the limp reputation of the public service.
The ‘Robodebt’ Royal Commission has exposed serious failures by both Ministers and public servants, and some writers have claimed it has shown the Australian Public Service in “its most dismal hours”. Only a few years back, the Banking Royal Commission and the Pink Batts Royal Commission plumbed other dark nights of the public service soul.
In Victoria, where I worked in its public service for 33 years until late 2022, the Victorian Ombudsman is slowly conducting an inquiry into the politicisation of the public service. The Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission reported last week on its investigation of “improper influence in procurement, involving Ministerial advisors.” But Operation Daintree found fault with the conduct and standards of both elected and unelected Victorian Government officials, including:
“the lack of oversight of advisors by ministers (and with it, the potential for plausible deniability, raising questions about the efficacy of the Westminster convention of individual ministerial responsibility as an accountability mechanism to parliament and, through it, the community)
the pliability of DHHS in delivering what it understood the minister wanted, in breach of its ethical obligations
a propensity by some advisors and public servants to avoid, ignore, bend or break rules to achieve soughtafter outcomes that are not in the public interest.”
While the Robodebt Royal Commission has inspired many journalists and progressive commentators to lambast former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and forget the fiascos of the Rudd/Gillard years, these critics have been muted on the failures in Victoria. But people like, me who worked in the Victorian public service for 33 years, are not surprised or shocked by either the revelations at the Robodebt Royal Commission or the coded criticisms by IBAC of the state of government in Victoria. We have witnessed this problem first-hand for decades.
Something very ill is afoot in the State of Victoria, and in the institutions of the public service at both state and national levels. The disease is political decay, and it affects the institutions of Western liberal democracy, in whatever nation or province or party or political affiliation or identity one belongs to.
In June 2021 (nearly two years ago) I reflected on the nature of this political decay and its impact on the quality of bureaucracy, government and democracy. I reflected on these issues on my podcast, speaking between the lines, since I was still a serving public servant, subject to fickle enforcement of speech code conventions. The reflections have a new urgency today.
I have edited that podcast talk into a chapter of my forthcoming book, 13 Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat. For paid-subscribers only, I am providing early access to this essay from my podcast transcript. Please enjoy, and please consider upgrading your subscription to support my work.
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