Culture of fear hurting Victoria

The revelation that former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews had as many staff members in his office as Anthony Albanese and former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet combined reflects the waste of taxpayers’ money that has been rife in the nation’s most indebted state for years. Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass, in a report tabled in parliament on Wednesday, found that in mid-2022, Mr Andrews’ private office had 84 staff, compared with fewer than 35 in the NSW premier’s office and just over 50 in the PM’s office.

As well as a rigorous time and motion study, the situation needs more transparency. Ms Glass was refused access to an organisational chart of Mr Andrews’ private office so she was unable to report what the staff members were employed to do. Mr Andrews’ successor, Premier Jacinta Allan, tried to play down the report. It contained “not one example of partisan political hiring in the Victorian public sector”, she said. That is beside the point. Writing on Wednesday, Victoria editor Damon Johnston noted the report revealed an unhealthy culture of creeping politicisation, secrecy and fear that carried “real world risks for taxpayers”.

“Marginalisation” of public service departments had eroded a key principle of the Westminster system in which an independent public service provided frank and fearless advice to government. Excessive secrecy was leading to scenarios that posed “obvious risks to public funds”, such as the clandestine process under which the $125bn Suburban Rail Loop was devised, Ms Glass warned. The SRL, her report says, was “proved up” by consultants rather than developed by public servants. The election announcement about the Loop was a closely guarded secret and “blindsided” the agency established by Mr Andrews to remove short-term politics from infrastructure planning.

In her foreword, the Ombudsman, who is due to retire in February, cited a “culture of fear” in the upper echelons of the public service that discouraged “frank and fearless” advice. The watchdog was “deeply troubled by the number of people who were afraid to speak to us”, Ms Glass wrote. “Two sentiments stood out – concern and fear. Concern about what people saw as the quickening corrosion of longstanding Westminster principles of responsible government. Fear that if they spoke up, if they were in any way identifiable as having done so, their careers would be finished.” Restrictions on cabinet documents were also a problem. Answers about the early development of the SRL, for example, were “shrouded in the fog of cabinet secrecy”.

A fortnight ago, state Auditor General Andrew Greaves warned that Victoria’s total state debt was set to crash through $250bn within four years. But the Allan government had failed to map out a plan to repay the spiralling burden. That is despite Labor levying one of the nation’s heaviest tax burdens on business and property owners. Responding to the Ombudsman’s report, Ms Allan emphasised that her office was still in a transition phase. But she needs frank and fearless advice and should take the principles of the report on board.