Ministers and Senators Behaving Badly Series 4

If you can't convince them, then confuse them …
Coalition rejects ‘code of conduct’ for ministerial advisers
By Katharine Murphy, Political Editor for The Guardian
on 13 December 2019
Scott Morrison resists Thodey review recommendations for increased
accountability and mandated public-sector experience
Scott Morrison’s government has rejected the Thodey review’s recommendation
that it establish a legislated code of conduct for ministerial advisers.
Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
The Morrison government has rebuffed a recommendation that it establish
a legislated code of conduct for ministerial advisers, professing itself happy
with the status quo.
The recommendation to bring ministerial advisers into a clearer
accountability framework is contained in the long awaited Thodey
review of the public service, which was released by the prime minister,
Scott Morrison, on Friday. The review also recommended that the
government set guidance for ministerial offices to have at least half of
ministerial policy advisers with public service experience.
The Thodey review referenced debates in recent years that ministerial
advisers – who, controversially, exert significant influence without much
external scrutiny – should be made more accountable through
parliamentary scrutiny in the same way public servants are held to account
by committees, like Senate estimates.