Let’s start with a public health announcement. Sometimes laughing is better than banging your head on a desk. I confess I chuckled after picking up the Australian on Thursday and reading that Scott Morrison wanted the federal bureaucracy to become more responsive to better serve the quiet Australians. Just in case you missed it, and you may well have, Canberra’s most senior public servants had already been treated to a very similar homily shortly after the Coalition won the election in May. The prime minister used one of his early picture opportunities to engage in some vigorous-sounding talk about congestion-busting in the bureaucracy, and setting clear performance targets – the clear instruction being to get your service delivery to the public right, and crack on with implementing our agenda. I wondered at the time whether any of the senior officials lined up for their public remonstrance had the temerity […]