OZschwitz: Rudd's vision for the bureaucrats: More 'efficient' way to fuck up the country

For the past five months the biggest game in town has been figuring out what the Rudd Government is on about and how it ticks. The answers haven't been readily apparent.

This is not your Identikit Labor government, it's one shaped much more than normally by the personality and preferences of its leader. And compared with other prime ministers, we saw surprisingly little of Kevin Rudd before his elevation to the top job.

We'll have a much clearer idea of the Government's mettle when we see its inaugural budget in a week's time but, in the meantime, Rudd gave a most revealing speech last week.

In a move for which I can't remember a precedent, he called all his heads of departments and agencies and their senior bureaucrats - about 900 in all - to a meeting in the Great Hall of Parliament House and addressed them at length.

A clear message to emerge from that speech is that Rudd is more a bureaucrat than he is a politician. As a consequence, he - and his Government - is low on ideology, but high on bureaucratic "process".

On some of the touchstone ideological issues, Rudd is surprisingly uncommitted. "Policy design and policy evaluation should be driven by analysis of all the available options, and not by ideology," he told the assembled troops. "I do not have an ideological preference for the public sector, nor for the private sector," he said. And we know from what he's said and done elsewhere that he has no objection to non-means tested welfare.

He told his troops he wanted a more inclusive policy process that engaged with "average Australians as well as experts, think tanks and business and community groups". Everyone, it seems, except the unions.

As for this former bureaucrat's obsession with Process, it was his reason for calling the top bureaucrats together and was right through his speech. The process of policy implementation was "critically important" to many of his policies. Good public policy is "so critically important to the future prosperity of all Australians". "Policy innovation and evidence-based policy-making is at the heart of being a reformist government."

Another clear message is that Rudd has come to office with a "long-term reform agenda" but without much in the way of specific, long-term policies. Rather, he arrived with a scrappy bunch of short-term policies, heavily shaped by political exigencies - the aping of Liberal policies, the gimmickry on living costs, the desire to avoid all possibility of offence, the endless list of inquiries.

Lacking ideology, Rudd came to power with not much more than a conviction that government could do a better job of taking Australia where it needed to go, and that he was just the bloke to build the policy processing machine needed to make this possible.

He had a list of headings for his reform agenda but, apart from that, just an interim assortment of promises to get him elected.

That's true even though, in his insistence on keeping all election promises, he's seeking to portray them as "long-term policy".

(I'd make an honourable exception for his policies on industrial relations and climate change, but not for his purloined tax cuts and cost of living gimmickry.)

But how will Rudd acquirethe long-term policies needed to give substance to his reform agenda headings? That was the point of his speech: he'll get them from the bureaucrats.

"We know that the Government cannot deliver on its long-term agenda without a high-quality, professional Australian public service," told them. It "must receive the best advice, based on the best available information and evidence".

"I believe the public service must play a policy leadership role in addition to its role in implementation and service delivery," he said.

"I hold the firm view that your job is not just to advise on the day-to-day issues as they arise. You should also be providing long-term strategic advice to assist the Government in developing its policy direction."

So what are the headings on the Government's "long-term reform agenda" of "Australia's key policy challenges"?

Well, first, the Mission Statement. "We are committed to building a modern, competitive Australia capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century ... We are committed to building a strong foundation for future prosperity - through responsible economic management and by enhancing Australia's international competitiveness and productivity."

Getting down to cases, the top four headings seem to be restoring strong productivity growth, implementing the education revolution, fixing the federation and responding to climate change. Fixing these will secure the long-term competitiveness of all Australian businesses.

"In addition to lifting productivity growth, the Government is committed to maximising workforce participation, targeting the range of factors that influence workforce participation at different stages of life."

Then there's "the challenge of reshaping Australia's sprawling heath-care system to meet the demands of an ageing population with changing health problems".

"I could mention any number of other challenges, from tackling the nation's water shortages to closing the gap on indigenous life opportunities." Most of the speech, however, was devoted to Rudd's plans to strengthen the bureaucratic processing machine that would make the conquering of all these challenges possible.

He outlined seven elements of the Government's "vision for the Australian public service":

Reinvigorating the Westminster tradition of an independent public service with merit-based selection processes and continuity of employment when governments change.

Building a professionalised public service committed to excellence.

Developing evidence-based policy-making processes.

Enhancing the strategic policy capability of the public service.

Strengthening the integrity and accountability of government and sustaining high ethical standards.

Broadening participation in government through inclusive policy processes.

Establishing a contemporary view of government service delivery emphasising both efficiency and effectiveness in outcomes.

Needless to say, all this is a million miles from John Howard's modus operandi. He always knew what he wanted to do - whether ideologically motivated or politically expedient - and his greatest fear was that the bureaucrats might talk him out of it or frustrate it in some way.

He therefore bullied them like he and his ministers bullied the press gallery.

LNK

Clueless statist fucks!

OZschwitz: Rudd's vision for the bureaucrats: More 'efficient' way to fuck up the country

OZschwitz: Rudd's vision for the bureaucrats: More 'efficient' way to fuck up the country

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