{"id":31588,"date":"2017-05-01T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=31588"},"modified":"2017-05-01T09:51:39","modified_gmt":"2017-04-30T23:51:39","slug":"power-public-servant-dennis-richardson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/power-public-servant-dennis-richardson\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of a public servant: Dennis Richardson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image<\/p>\n

Like the World War One 9.2-inch siege howitzer, Dennis Richardson has been a mobile weapon, deployed across many fields of battle, able to deliver a lot of ordnance with maximum elevation in a single shot.<\/p>\n

The siege howitzer, a counter-battery<\/a> artillery piece, fired a high-explosive shell weighing 290\u00a0lbs (130\u00a0kg). A Dennis diatribe also detonated with devastating\u00a0effect.<\/p>\n

Richardson retires next week\u00a0after 48 years in the public service. Malcolm Turnbull<\/a> describes it as \u2018a long and distinguished career\u2019, making \u2018a significant contribution to Australia\u2019s national security and foreign policy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The record glitters<\/a>: Secretary of Defence (2012\u201316), Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2010\u20132012), Australia\u2019s US Ambassador (2005\u201310), Director-General of ASIO (1996\u20132005), and Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Bob Hawke (1990\u201391).<\/p>\n

Richardson is a well-rounded public servant, entering Foreign Affairs as part of the famous 1969 intake of diplomatic cadets. Unlike the other \u201969-ers, Richardson didn\u2019t define himself with a \u2018DFAT\u2019 persona, leaving in 1986 to join the Immigration Department because he saw it as a fascinating part of the bureaucracy, and then later the Prime Minister\u2019s Department.<\/p>\n

Soon after he was appointed to run Defence, I wrote a couple of columns noting that Richardson had joined Arthur Tange<\/a> as the only public servant to have headed both Defence and Foreign Affairs. A great judge of Canberra big beasts, Philip Flood, commented that Tange is one of the three top public servants of the 20th century, while Richardson is one of the three top public servants of recent decades. Another fine judge, Max Moore-Wilton<\/a>, said Tange was an old-school elitist while Richardson exemplifies the modern mandarin, willing to carry out a minister\u2019s decision even if he\u2019d argued vehemently against it.<\/p>\n

Richardson could channel one important bit of the Tange mentality: in both Foreign and Defence, he served at his own pleasure as well as the PM\u2019s pleasure. The big axe that now hangs permanently above the head of every Secretary in Canberra held no real threat for Richardson in his final decade at the top.<\/p>\n

In Defence, Richardson said his goal was a \u2018very strong philosophy<\/a> to make Defence more of a unitary\u00a0state rather\u00a0than\u00a0a federation, and\u00a0a\u00a0loose\u00a0federation\u00a0at\u00a0that\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Defence Secretary obviously looms large, not least because of considerable statutory powers, especially over money. Yet even Richardson would admit that the military side of the Defence diarchy has a standing with ministers that he couldn\u2019t match. It\u2019s more than just the mystique of the slouch hat. Politicians have changed the power settings\u2014the relative clout of the Secretary has declined considerably from the highpoint achieved by Tange<\/a>. Any Defence Secretary\u2019s ability to faze or out-face the minister has declined as sharply as his ability to dominate the military leadership.<\/p>\n

The Richardson style was on full display when he fronted Senate Estimates. He was correct and cordial, always direct, never deferential. Senators got what Richardson wanted to give \u2018em\u2014usually with plenty of detail.<\/p>\n

Another style note, to file under dress code and power costumes. Richardson embraced a fashion which only arrived in Canberra\u2019s top ranks this decade\u2014wearing a suit without a tie. The tieless look is the biggest fashion shift for Canberra blokes since Paul Keating made the double-breasted jacket the power uniform of choice. Plenty of white-shirt-with-tie-Secretaries still abound, but Dennis dispensing with the tie is a style message that mattered\u2014especially amid the tribal hierarchies of Defence.<\/p>\n

Richardson\u2019s public service philosophy is set out in this speech<\/a> he gave to the Institute of Public Affairs. These are the key points:<\/p>\n