ABSTRACT
There is the need to avoid reforms that create more scandals purely by raising standards, without there being any actual deterioration in ministerial conduct. The tensions are evident in the balancing act in Westminster-influenced jurisdictions, between reliance on conventions of ministerial responsibility and other parliamentary or extra-parliamentary institutions. Increased public scrutiny of ministerial actions is only going to strengthen the credibility of the executive if there is increased institutional capacity for a well-intentioned minister to work out how to stay out of trouble. Perhaps the issues most amenable to being dealt with in such a forum are those least effectively dealt with by prime ministerial codes of conduct: conflict of interest issues. There are dilemmas about what might comprise helpful ethical guidance for ministers. Many of the institutional mechanisms for motivating ministers to ethical conduct necessarily attenuate executive power.
