{"id":62433,"date":"2021-02-12T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T19:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=62433"},"modified":"2021-02-11T17:28:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T06:28:17","slug":"how-the-australian-public-service-really-works-truth-and-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-the-australian-public-service-really-works-truth-and-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Australian public service really works: truth and consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

\u2018We all know what to do, but we don\u2019t know how to get re-elected once we have done it.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Jean-Claude Juncker<\/a>, Prime Minister of Luxembourg<\/p>\n

\u2018Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Charles de Gaulle<\/a>, President of France<\/p>\n

All politicians battle with Juncker\u2019s dilemma and de Gaulle\u2019s conundrum, while bureaucrats stand back and try to help. The relationship between politicians and public servants is founded on such predicaments.<\/p>\n

The bond between these two very different tribes is captured by a simple (and simplistic) division of functions: the job of politicians is to gain and use power; the job of public servants is to tell the truth to their masters in the service of government.<\/p>\n

Drawing on 50 years in journalism (mostly in Canberra), ASPI\u2019s Graeme Dobell offers his unholy trinity<\/a> of how politicians use power:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It\u2019s always personal.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. There\u2019s always a deal.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Follow the money.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For public servants, the first two rules<\/a> shift dramatically:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. It\u2019s never personal.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Evidence should always drive the decision.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Follow the money.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Who gets the blame? <\/strong>One key rule of the relationship between the two classes is that ministers get the credit when policies succeed, while public servants get the blame when policies fail. Think of Paul Keating\u2019s enduring stunt (he\u2019s still doing it) of blaming the Reserve Bank<\/a> for the 1991 recession<\/a>. This is a remarkable rhetorical transfer of responsibility from a politician who always boasted that he pulled the levers.<\/p>\n

      Nevertheless, standing close to the fire, top public servants have some sympathy for the heat on their political masters.<\/p>\n

      Ministerial tribulations. <\/strong>Ministers have their problems, some of them genuine. It\u2019s lonely: there are few people a minister can trust.<\/p>\n

      Prime ministers are not reliable friends, so one should not rely too much on support from the top. The backing of parliamentary colleagues is always conditional. And, as Gladys Berejiklian recently found out, you can\u2019t rely on those you have close personal links with, either. A good principle for all politicians: \u2018Your enemies you can trust because you know where they stand\u2014it\u2019s your friends you must watch.\u2019 Et tu, Brut\u00e9.<\/em><\/p>\n

      One of the sharpest distillations<\/a> of what ministers face is offered by the former Labor cabinet minister John Kerin<\/a>:<\/p>\n