The Vanstone Files: Unpacking Ministerial Power

The Westminster Tradition

In a wide ranging discussion, Alison, Caroline and Danielle come together to discuss the gems from the Amanda Vanstone interview, which examined how power, responsibility and decision-making played out at the top of government during her two decades as a federal minister.

Vanstone's approach to being a minister - asking questions until understanding, visiting programs unannounced, and taking full responsibility for decisions - offers deep insights.

We also canvas some less expected topics, including:

• Is it a boomer quality to use ALL CAPS in inconveniently located thank you notes?
  • See the memoir of UK civil service head What Does Jeremy Think? by Suzanne Heywood
• Are the best questions the ones asked by kindergarteners 'Who? What? Why?'
  • See also Maria Katsonis LinkedIn post on The Art of Asking Smarter Questions
• Are people disinterested in history in policy making, or are we just pitching it wrong?
  • See also Abul Rizvi on Immigration Policy on The Joe Walker Podcast
  • Memoir of Pamela Churchill Harriman Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell
• Was Amanda Vanstone falling in to the classic 'good girl' trope of delivering savings, rather than posturing about plans to deliver savings?
  • On why Australia struggles with a conversation about trade offs, see Judith Brett on How a Benthamite Political Culture Shaped Australia's Electoral System, on The Joe Walker Podcast
• Would we star in a documentary on tricky policy making? Or do we already have the essence of one in Utopia?

Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....
While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.
If you want rigorous reporting on Robodebt, we recommend the work of Rick Morton at the Saturday Paper, Chris Knaus and Luke Henriques-Gomes at the Guardian, Ben Eltham at Crikey, Julian Bajkowski at The Mandarin, and of course, the Robodebt Royal Commission itself.
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Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.
'Til next time!