From their origins in the shadows of Australian public administration, ministerial advisers have been increasingly thrust into the limelight through scandals that appear on the front page of the newspapers. This book traces the rise in the power and significance of Australian ministerial advisers. It shows the fundamental shift of the locus of power from the neutral public service to highly political and partisan ministerial advisers.The book demonstrates that the introduction of ministerial advisers into the structure of the Executive has led to the erosion of the Australian system of responsible government. This is caused by a failure in the political, legal and managerial accountability frameworks surrounding ministerial advisers.Ministerial Advisers in Australia is the first comprehensive study of the legal and political regulation of Australian ministerial advisers. This book features material from original interviews with Australian Ministers and Members of Parliament, as well as several former State Premiers.**Dr Yee-Fui Ng, Ministerial Advisers in Australia: The Modern Legal Context, was a finalists of the inaugural Holt Prize 2015.

A raft of recent political scandals in Australia has generated widespread media and public interest in the role and accountability of ministerial staffers, and their impact on relations between ministers and their public service advisers. Such scandals include the notorious 'Children Overboard' affair and the more recent AWB imbroglio. In Power Without Responsibility Anne Tiernan describes the contemporary working environment of political staffers, their formal and less formal roles, the challenges they face, and the forces that have escalated the growth in their numbers and influence.

Neither "politicians" nor bureaucrats," advisors are non-elected political activists who wield tremendous influence in policy making. James Walter presents the first detailed analysis of the role advisors play in contemporary Australian politics.

The structure of the Executive has fundamentally changed in the last 30 years. Ministerial advisers have become major institutional actors within the Executive, interposed between Ministers and public servants. The number of ministerial advisers has expanded exponentially, and they exercise increasingly strong influence within the Executive. There has been a shift of the locus of power from public servants to ministerial advisers. Ministerial advisers are now a permanent and durable part of the Executive. Ministerial advisers are increasingly involved in scandals that appear on the front page of the newspapers. Compared to the strict hierarchy of the public service that creates predictable outcomes, ministerial offices operate like a primordial soup, in a fluid and unconstrained manner, with ministerial advisers taking up roles and responsibilities on an ad hoc basis with limited regulation. This thesis argues that this is a symptom of broader systemic failure, rather than failings at an individual level. This thesis utilises an empirical and doctrinal methodology to analyse the legal and political accountability of ministerial advisers within the Australian framework of responsible government. It is posited that constitutional and administrative law are not the best avenues to enhance the accountability of ministerial advisers. Although ministerial advisers post-date the Constitution, this thesis shows that the appropriation of the salaries of ministerial advisers is constitutional. Administrative law is an effective avenue of redress for individuals aggrieved by the actions of ministerial advisers, but only covers a small proportion of their actions. Thus, administrative law provides only a partial method of enhancing the accountability of ministerial advisers.This thesis argues that the most effective resolution of this issue lies at the parliamentary level. It is primarily through parliamentary committees that ministerial advisers and Ministers can be properly held to account. This thesis shows that, contrary to the assertions of former Prime Minister John Howard and former Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls, there is no constitutional convention at the Commonwealth and Victorian levels that ministerial advisers do not appear before parliamentary committees. It is argued that responsible government means that ministerial advisers should appear before parliamentary committees where it facilitates the accountability of Ministers.

A unique contribution to the study of Australian policy, politics, and government institutions, this book examines the position of chief of staff to the Australian prime minister from the perspective of key individuals who have held it. Exploring the support needs of Australian political leaders, it traces the forces that have shaped the growth and specialization of the prime minister s office since Gough Whitlam first formalized the appointment of a trusted senior person as head of his private office in 1972. Individuals in successive PMOs have long been recognized as key players, but their role has come under greater scrutiny as the link between prime ministerial effectiveness and the performance of their private offices has become more widely understood. While insights and advice have been passed from one incumbent to the next, there has been no systematic attempt to understand and document the evolution of the chief-of-staff position. The book addresses this critical gap in our understanding of the contemporary practice of Australian political leadership, reporting the findings of a project designed to develop an empirically informed understanding of the role of prime ministerial chiefs of staff as seen by those who held the post."