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Yaël's avatar

Do you ever get sick of saying logical things that are all about helping people and being a good person and getting illogical reactions from people who just can’t grasp simple concepts? I applaud your patience, mine is wearing thin.

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Luke Balia's avatar

What do we do about the people within governments that undermine them (i.e. public servants with vested interests)? It seems like the public service has become increasingly politicised and there are just way too many lobbyists. The only politician who seems like they want to do anything about it is Pocock

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Jack Toohey's avatar

Interested to understand where the idea is coming that there are public servants with vested interests, like which sectors and at which levels? This is usually neoliberal propaganda and while I don't think beauracy is perfect nor are all public servants apolitical I do think it tends to be overblown comparative to the influence of lobbyists informing policy.

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Luke Balia's avatar

I don't have a wide ranging number of examples but the former secretary of the department of home affairs who was allegedly making partisan interventions is one that comes to mind. I think I may also have the "Yes Minister"/"Utopia" idea of public servants generally being out of touch - I don't know how true this is but I get the impression the ones with the vested interests tend to be at senior level (i.e. directly appointed by the politicians)

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