For years MB lamented how Australia’s public service has been stripped raw by decades of government outsourcing, waves of senior redundancies, and a preference for governments to seek advice from paid consultants.
The end result is that the “frank and fearless advice” that the public service was once renowned for has vanished, replaced by spin and purchased analysis designed to support a pre-conceived political agenda.
This view was supported by a recent Senate Committee report, entitled “APS Inc: undermining public sector capability and performance”, which labelled consultants “ticket clippers” and “rent seekers”, and claimed they have contributed to the politicisation of the public service.
