It is looking more and more as though Scott Morrison is intent on surrounding himself with those that can be relied upon to think exactly as he does on any topic.
Encouraging a bubble of 'yes men' à la Trump, thereby discouraging alternative perspectives and eliminating dissent.
The
Prime Minister has assembled a team to drain the swamp his way. Scott
Morrison is building a new power bloc around his leadership,
dismantling the old “Canberra club” with a network of friends,
confidants, bureaucrats and trusted allies tasked with reshaping
Australia’s political, cultural and policy direction….
While
not publicly visible or involved in the day-to-day running of the
Prime Minister’s office, Morrison’s two close friends outside of
politics, David Gazard and Scott Briggs, are perhaps as influential
as anyone.
Central
to Morrison’s strategy has been the purge of the public service…..
Leading
the reform agenda across the whole of government is the new
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet head Phil Gaetjens, Home
Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy,
Infrastructure and Transport tsar Simon Atkinson, Social Services
chief Kathryn Campbell, and David Fredericks, tapped to head the new
Department of Industry, Energy, Science and Resources. The links to
Morrison are as stark as some of the links these new mandarins have
to each other.
Gaetjens
was installed as Treasury secretary from his role as then-treasurer
Morrison’s chief of staff, the same job he held in Peter Costello’s
office. The two would speak regularly and became close. Gaetjens
represented the first move in the changing of the guard when he was
installed as DPMC head after Martin Parkinson was told his term would
not be extended. As part of this week’s APS clean-out, Parkinson’s
wife Heather was one of the five secretaries told their services were
no longer required…..
Mr
Morrison retains a tight-knit group of friends and advisers, led by
businessman Scott Briggs and former Liberal staffer David Gazard.
Yellow Brick Road chairman Mark Bouris, Macquarie Group managing
director Shemara-Wikramanayake, former prime minister John Howard,
political strategist Lynton Crosby, former business colleague Adrian
Harrington, former NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione, former
Liberal MP Warwick Smith and developer Harry Triguboff are considered
key sounding boards for Mr Morrison. His former flatmates Stuart
Robert and Steve Irons, both MPs promoted by Mr Morrison, are also
close to the Prime Minister….
A
senior government source said “there is no Big Bang” but the
“principles and direction have been set for people to get on board
or get out”.
“Some
agencies will resist, citing the need for special treatment, but
they’ll more often than not find themselves in the same position as
the goat which is tethered in the Tyrannosaurus Rex enclosure,” the
source said.
Key
department chiefs who have been promoted have direct links to Mr
Morrison and with each other.
They
include Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phil
Gaetjens, Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo, Treasury secretary Steven
Kennedy, Infrastructure and Transport tsar Simon Aktinson, Social
Services head Kathryn Campbell, and David Fredericks, tapped to head
the new Department of Industry, Energy, Science and Resources…..
The
Weekend Australian can reveal that many of the new senior mandarins
have close links with Mr Morrison and personal connections through
previous roles in Treasury, Defence and politics.
Mr
Pezzullo, Mr Atkinson, Mr Kennedy, Mr Fredericks and Productivity
Commission chairman Michael Brennan have previous experience working
together. Mr Morrison worked closely with Mr Pezzullo and Chief of
the Defence Force Angus Campbell in setting up and operating
Operation Sovereign Borders.
Ms
Campbell — a senior Army Reserves officer who worked across
multiple departments — also had contact with Mr Morrison in
delivering the Coalition’s major welfare reforms.
The
Power List also reveals the inner workings of Mr Morrison’s office,
with Dr Kunkel and Mr Finkelstein leading a team of close advisers
including Mr Shearer, head of communications Andrew Carswell, Liberal
Party federal director Andrew Hirst, national security adviser
Michelle Chan and executive officer Nico Louw.
Insiders
said Dr Kunkel, who ran Mr Howard’s cabinet policy unit before
shifting to the private sector, acted as the “gatekeeper” and
“decision maker”, while Mr Finkelstein took charge of
“networking, speaking to stakeholders and keeping in touch with
backbenchers and ministers’ offices”.
Shortly after the federal election, I had a conversation with a figure at the very centre of the government. As we raked over where the election had left the political conversation, I noted the Prime Minister’s repeated emphasis on getting on with delivering services to Australians in his public statements.
Did
this suggest that a politician so driven by marketing memes had
detected a weariness with the ideological wars of politics among
disconnected voters, and recognised political self-interest in
shaping both the government’s message, and its agenda, around the
basics of government service delivery? Did this mean the government
might abandon some of its ideological warfare against institutions?
“Don’t
be ridiculous,” this person snorted. “If anything, this
government is more ideologically driven than Abbott. They want to win
the culture wars they see in education, in the public service, in all
of our institutions, and they’ll come for the ABC too, of course.
There will be a big cleanout at the top of the public service, but
Morrison will wait for a while to do that. They believe the left has
been winning the war for the last twenty years and are determined to
turn the tables. Morrison will just be craftier about the way he goes
about it.”
Is
Morrison building such a large political fortress so that he can
refuse to acknowledge climate change for his entire prime
ministership, whilst at the same time merging church and state where
ever and whenever possible?
Is he intent on becoming an autocratic president in practice rather than a democratic prime minister?
Does he intend to forcefully shape Australia into his own personal image of what New Jerusalem looks like?
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