{"id":47897,"date":"2019-05-29T14:44:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T04:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=47897"},"modified":"2019-05-29T14:44:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T04:44:18","slug":"morrisons-congestion-busting-mission-for-the-public-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/morrisons-congestion-busting-mission-for-the-public-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Morrison\u2019s congestion-busting mission for the public service"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s notable that Prime Minister Scott Morrison allocated an additional job to himself in announcing his second ministry last Sunday. This was to make himself minister for the public service. Greg Hunt is named in the new ministry list as \u2018Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Cabinet\u2019\u2014in effect the cabinet secretary. Previously, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann had been dual-hatted for several years as minister for the public service, and before that Eric Abetz had been minister assisting the prime minister for the public service during Tony Abbott\u2019s prime ministership.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a name? Quite a lot when it comes to a prime minister signalling a reformist intent to shape the Australian public service (APS). Let\u2019s be clear: Morrison didn\u2019t have to take on this role. A prime minister\u2019s day is already full enough without additional responsibilities. Strong PMs can also choose to reach over the shoulders of ministers to shape any policy area, but direct day-to-day steerage is a different thing. Morrison\u2019s conscious decision to keep his hands on the APS \u2018engine room\u2019 of policy capability (and to appoint Hunt to assist him with that) is a significant fact that will have Canberra\u2019s agency heads paying close attention.<\/p>\n

What might Morrison\u2019s interest be in the APS\u2014an institution in a territory not naturally thought to be the Coalition\u2019s heartland? Could it be that he understands as John Howard did that the road to policy success for any government runs through the land of the APS? Get the relationship right\u2014which means a respectful and creative interaction around policy\u2014and both government and the APS do well. On the other hand, prime ministers and ministers who develop poor interactions with the public service often find themselves cut apart when the pink batts hit the fan.<\/p>\n

So what does Scott Morrison want from the APS? He lost no time getting the department and agency heads together just days after the election\u2014itself a significant and symbolic act\u2014and setting out his expectations. This is how the PM described it<\/a> to 2GB\u2019s Alan Jones:<\/p>\n

I had all the public servants together yesterday in Canberra and told them a couple of important things. One is, their job is not just to do the big things well, but do the little things well, the things that people rely on; returning the phone calls, making sure their services are being delivered, making sure the payments turn up on time.<\/p>\n

Jones: Good on you.<\/p>\n

Prime minister: All of those sorts of things, but when it comes to the big things it\u2019s about getting these big projects actually happening. I told you and I talked a lot in the campaign about congestion-busting infrastructure. I want a bit of bureaucracy congestion-busting too when it comes to getting a lot of these things going. That\u2019s important for investors who want to invest in Australia and its future, but it\u2019s also important to get these projects delivered on the ground, whether it\u2019s the National Water Grid or whether it\u2019s the East\u2013West Link or whether it\u2019s the Rail Link out there into the Western Sydney Airport.<\/p>\n

All of this is important. I\u2019m just keen to get off on the right foot and make sure that these things are being delivered on the ground.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018Bureaucracy congestion-busting\u2019 suggests some impatience with the public service\u2019s ability to shape imaginative policy agendas quickly. Morrison would hardly be alone in coming to that view. In my recollection, prime ministers Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Abbott all expressed some frustration about not receiving imaginative policy thinking from the APS.<\/p>\n

Morrison was also reported in the Canberra Times<\/em><\/a> as saying to the public service heads that there would be a need for more policy effort in regional security:<\/p>\n

I think it very important that we continue to focus on the ways we can use our influence and our relationships and build on those relationships in the Indo-Pacific region and with our friends and partners around the world to continue to be a voice of reason and common sense that is focused on the prosperity and the peacefulness in our region for the people of our region.<\/p>\n

In his short time as prime minister before the election, it\u2019s clear that Morrison saw a need and an opportunity to lift Australia\u2019s diplomatic, economic and security effort with the Pacific island countries, which ultimately led to the announcement of a PNG\u2013Australia and possibly US naval facility on Manus Island. Under an earlier PM, that Manus outcome might have been described as a \u2018captain\u2019s pick\u2019; my understanding is that the idea didn\u2019t surface from within the APS.<\/p>\n

In my view it was exactly the right call. We elect the \u2018captains\u2019 to make the smart policy choices, after all. But it\u2019s rather embarrassing that, after months of pushing the national security community to come up with lateral thinking on increasing engagement with our Pacific island neighbours, the policy cupboard looked distressingly bare for a government that was demanding more.<\/p>\n

So the APS is subtly on notice to do a better job of developing innovative policy thinking for a prime minister wanting to make a mark on the international stage and looking for new ways to do that. The \u2018Pacific step-up\u2019 will clearly be a central part of the agenda, but there\u2019s just as much need to do the same for Australia\u2019s relations with Southeast Asia, and especially with Indonesia, where a freshly re-elected Joko Widodo government will be looking for a new start in relations with Canberra; with Europe, including with the UK as it limps on with the sucking wound that is Brexit; and with India, in our bilateral relationship that never quite delivers. Most importantly, Morrison needs to find smarter public language about dealing with China\u2014so as not to be stuck in the supposed bipartisan consensus about Beijing which maintains that if we do and say nothing all will be right with the world.<\/p>\n

And sooner rather than later Morrison will meet Donald Trump. The US president is an unusual collection of quirks, but increasingly in control of the administration with few adults left to curb his worst instincts. Trump\u2019s recent reference to Australia\u2019s walk-on role in the Mueller inquiry (Alexander Downer\u2019s lubricated meeting with George Papadopoulos<\/a> at a London wine bar in 2016) could be a niggle in the relationship if Morrison doesn\u2019t shift the discussion onto more positive territory\u2014like getting the government policy and regulatory settings right to supercharge private-sector investments in each other\u2019s infrastructure and science and technology sectors: great for our economies and for our security.<\/p>\n

Governments send the APS demand signals for what they want on the policy menu. Morrison\u2019s decision to put himself directly in charge of the public service is as clear a signal as he could send about his interest in seeing more innovative policy offerings\u2014and better delivery of the programs flowing from those policies\u2014from an institution that hasn\u2019t been pressed hard on policy creativity in quite some time. Morrison\u2019s Cabinet colleagues will also reflect that the weight will be on them to deliver to this agenda as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s notable that Prime Minister Scott Morrison allocated an additional job to himself in announcing his second ministry last Sunday. This was to make himself minister for the public service. Greg Hunt is named in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":47903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[416,376,344,2281],"class_list":["post-47897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-government","tag-politics","tag-public-service","tag-scott-morrison"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMorrison\u2019s congestion-busting mission for the public service | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/morrisons-congestion-busting-mission-for-the-public-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Morrison\u2019s congestion-busting mission for the public service | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s notable that Prime Minister Scott Morrison allocated an additional job to himself in announcing his second ministry last Sunday. 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