Ministerial advisers in the Victorian Labor government, 1982-1991

© 1993 Ann PolisMinisterial advisers were a noticeable feature of the Victorian Labor government from 1982 and were a development from arrangements in the Whitlam era when the Whitlam Government “made provision for each Minister to have a small staff of well-qualified (and well paid) individuals to provide political and expert advice as an alternative to that of the public service”. Alan Oxley says that the public service took some time to adjust to the system. He notes that they were accustomed to “Private Secretaries” who made appointments and “Press Secretaries” who handled the mysterious world of the media and occasionally countermanded advice from the public service on the distasteful grounds of political expediency.” They were concerned with the potential for the erosion of their prerogative as the legitimate source of advice to the ministers. Halligan and Power contend that the ministerial adviser has been one of the most prominent additions to executive branches over the last two decades. They observe that: “The political executive has used advisers to increase its power by extending the scope of influence of the ministerial office. This has served to enlarge the partisan element within the executive. The adviser can exercise a major influence on policy processes – if not always on the content of policy – and this is extremely important for providing a minister with a means for sustaining his or her authority” and point out that while partisan advisers had existed before Whitlam they “became the norm under his government.” The advent of advisers had the potential to change the balance between the political and the bureaucratic arenas in government