Overblown or Overload? Ministerial Staff and Dilemmas of Executive Advice
Abstract
Ministerial staff provide essential support to overworked ministers, but their position within Australia's system of government is unclear. Their involvement in a variety of controversies has raised questions about whether they pose a challenge to traditional Westminster principles, particularly relationships between ministers and their public service advisers. Ministerial staff are growing in number and power, but fall outside parliamentary scrutiny; their presence may allow ministers to evade responsibility. There is an obvious management gap in their supervision. Better ways must be found to accommodate their presence and ...
View more >Ministerial staff provide essential support to overworked ministers, but their position within Australia's system of government is unclear. Their involvement in a variety of controversies has raised questions about whether they pose a challenge to traditional Westminster principles, particularly relationships between ministers and their public service advisers. Ministerial staff are growing in number and power, but fall outside parliamentary scrutiny; their presence may allow ministers to evade responsibility. There is an obvious management gap in their supervision. Better ways must be found to accommodate their presence and prevent damage being done to political institutions and processes.
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View more >Ministerial staff provide essential support to overworked ministers, but their position within Australia's system of government is unclear. Their involvement in a variety of controversies has raised questions about whether they pose a challenge to traditional Westminster principles, particularly relationships between ministers and their public service advisers. Ministerial staff are growing in number and power, but fall outside parliamentary scrutiny; their presence may allow ministers to evade responsibility. There is an obvious management gap in their supervision. Better ways must be found to accommodate their presence and prevent damage being done to political institutions and processes.
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Journal Title
Social Alternatives
Volume
25
Issue
3
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2006 Social Alternatives. Self-archiving of the author-manuscript version is not yet supported by this publisher. Please use the hypertext link above to access the journal's website or contact the author for more information.