Cabinetisation or a Westminster solution? Understanding the employment of public servants in Australian ministers’ offices

Abstract

This article tracks the proportion of Australian ministerial advisory staff over time who are drawn from the public service. Using a mix of parliamentary and employment data, biographical data and interviews (1984‐2018), the paper tests if there has been a dramatic decline in the number of public servants in ministers' offices, and if the Australian ministerial office is evolving towards the cabinet ministeriel model found in Napoleonic countries, a concept known as cabinetisation. The paper shows that the proportion of Australian advisers who are public servants on leave is lower than in the past but has been consistently around 30% since 2010. The central argument advanced in the paper is that Australia's model of ministerial office has critical differences from Napoleonic ministerial cabinets and there is no evidence of cabinetisation. It argues that rather than bending towards European models, Australia's ministerial office is a response to peculiarly Westminster challenges and tensions, provoked by Washington aspirations. The paper shows that the institutional architecture of Australia's Westminster variant produces distinct and in some ways paradoxical dynamics: the separation designed to protect departments' impartiality threatens their marginalisation, leading to a push for greater presence in ministerial offices, despite the inherent frictions and risks of politicisation.Points for practitioners There is a significant level of exchange between departments and ministers’ offices under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act in Australia which can create frictions when staff return to departments. The exchange is encouraged and desired by departments and seen as helping to address disconnection and lack of understanding between ministers’ offices and departments. However, the practice is limited by the recruitment preferences of ministers, who are wary of depoliticisation, seek a mix of backgrounds and skills in their offices, and have a ready supply of political cadres to draw on. The Thodey Review's recommendations to increase the number of public servants in ministers’ offices, and that Senior Executive Service officers work as advisers as part of their training, are unlikely to be accepted by ministers.