Laura Tingle’s recent Quarterly Essay Political Amnesia: How We Forgot to Govern argues that Australia’s public service policy-making capability has atrophied. The end of agency head tenure, the explosion of ministerial advisors, and the loss of staff with deep historical memory of policy successes and failures have all contributed to the deterioration. The end result has been a public service unable to seriously evaluate policy options, and too timid to provide the frank and fearless advice that was once its hallmark. Tingle takes aim principally at the central and domestic policy agencies, stating that ‘no one develops deep …read more
Political amnesia is damaging Australia’s national security
