Storming The "Engine Room" of Government: As the product of a “top-down” economic and social revolution, New Zealand Neoliberalism – far from needing to rein-in the powers of the civil-service mandarinate – was determined to re-fashion the state bureaucracy in such a way that it would be able to resist any and all attempts by elected politicians – and their parties – to dismantle the neoliberal machinery of "governance".
“THEY’RE THE ENGINE ROOM where ministerial decisions are put
through the mill by officials.” In that single sentence, the very worst aspects
of neoliberalism are laid bare. It’s author, political journalist Stacey Kirk,
like so many of her generation, have been taught to regard politicians as, at
best, necessary evils. Accordingly, Cabinet Committees – the “engine rooms” of
government – are held up as the necessary correctives to poorly conceived
“ministerial decisions”. Places where the ideas of elected politicians get
knocked into a shape acceptable to their unelected “officials” – New Zealand’s
only trustworthy wielders of political power.
Kirk’s story, inspired by Opposition criticism of the new
government’s apparent willingness to be guided by – and act on – its own
advice, plays directly to the crucial neoliberal concept of “governance”. At
its core, governance represents the idea that the policies of both local and
national government, if they are to meet the fundamental test of effective and
efficient public administration, must be professionally crafted and
implemented. By this reckoning, the ill-informed amateurism of elected
politicians poses a constant threat to the delivery of “good” governance. Which
is why “officials” putting “ministerial decisions” through “the mill” is
presented not as an affront to democracy, but a very good idea.
Essentially, Kirk ranges herself alongside the Sir Humphrey
Appleby character from the celebrated British television series, Yes Minister. Sir Humphrey represents
the haughty mandarinate of the Civil Service: the ones who regard themselves as
the guardians of the State’s permanent interests. Ever on the alert against the
obsessions and enthusiasms of reforming politicians, Sir Humphrey and his
colleagues are constantly manoeuvring to thwart the pet projects of their
ministers.
In its day, Yes
Minister was conceived of – and certainly became – a primer for the “free
market” reforms of Margaret Thatcher. The senior civil service of 1980s Britain
was depicted as dangerously protective of the fast-decaying post-World War II
Keynesian settlement. Yes Minister’s
key message was, therefore, that the British people needed to elect
ideologically-driven politicians who knew their own minds, and could not be
swayed by the blandishments of Machiavellian bureaucrats like Sir Humphrey.
In the case of New Zealand, however, the neoliberal
revolution was not carried through by ideologically-driven politicians (as
happened in the UK and the USA) but by ideologically-driven bureaucrats in the
New Zealand Treasury and, to a lesser extent, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
It was these civil servants who radicalised the political leadership of the
Labour Party and placed in the hands of David Lange’s government the carefully
prepared economic reform package that would later become known as
“Rogernomics”. (The book-sized briefing document, dubbed ‘Economic Management’,
can still be found on the shelves of your local public library.)
As the product of a “top-down” economic and social revolution,
New Zealand Neoliberalism – far from needing to rein-in the powers of the
civil-service mandarinate – was determined to re-fashion the state bureaucracy
in such a way that it would be able to resist any and all attempts by elected
politicians – and their parties – to dismantle the neoliberal system.
In this regard, the concept of “governance” was crucial.
Policy had to become the more-or-less exclusive province of highly-trained
professionals. Men and women, thoroughly schooled in the neoliberal ideology,
who could intercept and demolish any attempt by politicians – especially those
of the Left – to advance an alternative economic and social agenda.
In effect, the whole idea of a democratically-elected
government, empowered by the electorate to implement its party’s – or parties’
– manifesto/s, is presented as a dangerous threat to the effective and
efficient management of public affairs. Lip-service has to be paid to
democratic principles, of course, but all governance-oriented politicians understand
that Steve Maharey’s infamous formula: “That’s just the sort of thing you say
in Opposition, and then forget about in Government”, continues to describe the
true condition of our democracy.
None of which should be construed as an argument for doing away
with the civil service. Highly-educated and experienced civil servants will
always be needed to provide the policies of elected politicians with effective
and efficient delivery mechanisms. Free and frank advice to ministers will
always constitute a vital aspect of testing and refining policy ideas. What is
most definitely not needed, however, is a civil service comprised of neoliberal
cadres: bureaucrats who are, first and foremost, loyal to an ideological system
which is absolutely antithetical to the whole notion of “government of the
people, by the people, for the people.” New Zealand urgently needs to get rid
of this neoliberal priesthood.
Rather than question Jacinda Ardern’s government for
spending too little time in the “engine rooms”, Stacey Kirk should, perhaps,
cast a critical eye over the legislative mechanisms which preserve the
neoliberal ascendancy in New Zealand’s civil service. The State Sector Act, the
Public Finance Act and the Reserve Bank Act: all provide the statutory
obstacles that render effective, politician-led change so exceedingly difficult
in this country.
If our new Cabinet Ministers are working independently of
their “officials”, then that is not, automatically, a bad thing. On the
contrary, in a democracy: the spectacle of officials working for politicians,
who are, in their turn, working for the people; offers welcome proof that the
system is working exactly as it should!
Surely, the “engine room” of any government is the place
where the policies promised to the people by their elected leaders are
connected to the machinery of the state by its loyal civil servants – and set
in motion.
This essay was
originally posted on The Daily Blog
of Saturday, 11 November 2017.
