The NSW Labor administration may be buying time with a raft of reviews launched since the election, but government inquiries have a chequered history.
In the weeks before taking office, Chris Minns often downplayed the challenge posed by the near total absence of ministerial experience on his front bench.
Another is the striking number of inquiries the premier and his ministers have commissioned since the change of government. The bus task force is being led by John Lee, a former press aide to Bob Carr, who later headed the premier’s department before becoming managing director of two private bus companies.
Ironically, Haylen is now in the invidious position of being the target of an inquiry herself. On Thursday, a non-Labor dominated parliamentary committeehow she’d handpicked Murray, who was initially assessed by an independent panel as too inexperienced for the job. The emergence of his donations to her campaign has provided further grist to the opposition’s mill.
In Harris’ view, the NSW public service has been weakened in similar fashion to the federal public service, which was exposed during the recent Robodebt royal commission for failing to confront ministers about the illegality of that scheme. Harris believes the erosion of security of tenure for top public servants at both state and federal level has played a key role in weakening the bureaucracy’s willingness to serve up frank and fearless advice.
The AMA claims the terms of reference were “handed” to the government by the powerful Health Services Union which has queried the amounts being earned by private doctors working part-time in the public health care system. Liberal premier Barry O’Farrell, whose party had been out of office for 16 years when he won in 2011, was similarly criticised for commissioning a slate of inquiries, though it took him a year to get to 30 – a tally the Minns government looks set to outstrip on its current trajectory.
“What does the use of royal commissions tell us about how our existing governmental structures are working?” Hayne asked. “And the immediate answer to that question may be that it shows those structures – legislative, executive or judicial – are not working as they should.” While the Albanese government has reviews running across a range of portfolios, it has so far failed to call a promised inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.this week, “the prime minister has indicated the government will undertake [that inquiry] at an appropriate time in the future”.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Power play: Minns warns giant overhead cables only way to deliver renewable energy futureThe NSW premier says major cost and time pressures face renewable energy, insisting the state must ensure much-needed supply is added urgently to the electricity grid.
Read more »
Chris Minns rules out underground power lines for controversial HumeLink project due to costParliamentary committee recommends overhead transmission but groups opposing 360km of lines being built across regional NSW vow to keep fighting
Read more »
Small states’ premiers speak out on Voice as Minns, Andrews hang backChris Minns and Daniel Andrews say they support the Voice to parliament. So where are they?
Read more »
Small states’ premiers speak out on Voice as Minns, Andrews hang backChris Minns and Daniel Andrews say they support the Voice to parliament. So where are they?
Read more »
Small states’ premiers speak out on Voice as Minns, Andrews hang backChris Minns and Daniel Andrews say they support the Voice to parliament. So where are they?
Read more »
Premier promises more nurses despite thousands leaving each yearPremier Chris Minns has conceded the government urgently needs to address the 6500 nurses leaving the NSW public health system each year.
Read more »