ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to experiences and subsequent observations, and some of what has been written by others, to add to that required level of prominence, particularly why and how ministerial staff play a central role in the policy cycle, and what are the drivers for their continuing, even growing, importance. The election of the Bannon Labor Government in South Australia in 1982 saw me begin a ten-year career in the ranks of the ministerial staff. In 2002 a Senate Select Committee investigated ‘a certain maritime incident’ that centred on claims made during the 2001 federal election that asylum seekers had thrown their children overboard from the boats in which they were attempting to enter Australian territory. The Committee’s Report spawned a further Senate investigation of the adequacy and appropriateness of existing frameworks for their employment, management and accountability.
