Inside the world of 'no surprises' and political advisers

Inside the world of 'no surprises' and political advisers
Ministers now may be the first to tell the media about an operational matter that they clearly can't influence. (Image: Getty)
Len Cook
Public services commissioner Peter Hughes, in explaining the limitations of the new Long Term Insights Briefings to a select committee, suggested that the public sector was now less capable of delivering strategic policy advice because of MMP.  As a former top-level public servant with experience in what happened before and after the mixed-member proportional representation electoral system was introduced, I find it hard to disagree.  However, if I compare the public sector's role and capability for strategic policy advice as it n...

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