Australia’s constitution makes no mention of a prime minister. Yet John Howard is no legal fiction. He selects Liberal Party ministers, appoints the head of his own department, and approves the choices for all the others. Those arrangements leave Departmental Secretaries doubly dependent on his favour.
Departmental secretary
Volunteer call for Canberra’s fat cats
The Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) is putting the altruism of Canberra’s fat cat public servants to the test with an appeal for volunteers to spend up to a year living in a tent on the aboriginal lands the Commonwealth Government is about to take over.
