Greg Hunt | The federation, the National Cabinet, and how it all works

The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Public Service and Cabinet, recently joined Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM — IPAA’s National President — in conversation following the Minister’s delivery of the 2020 Garran Oration.

One of the topics they discussed was the federation, its boundaries and how you lock in change.

This is how the Minister responded:

“The National Cabinet was born of an awareness that the country fractured, and the federation nearly — nearly — was torn asunder during the Spanish flu.

Again, those boundaries were challenged during the course of the Depression.

And so the PM was very aware of that history, and we’d actually discussed it. He went into COAG — there were some real challenges — and he proposed that structure.

That structure worked quickly, it produced outcomes — brokered outcomes. We need to be aware not everybody came into the room with the same view.

And the nature of governance is finding a pathway through conflicting views. And sometimes the focus is ‘Oh, there are differing views’. It’s not the differing views — it’s the common pathways.”

He went on to observe that:

“National Cabinet’s now been embedded as the new, ongoing and permanent structure.

What it means is that it’s leaders — with small numbers around them — moving quickly, setting decisions in principle which are then implemented. And they can be reviewed and revised.

That doesn’t mean that everything is going to be seamless, but it is going to be faster and bigger issues are decided more quickly.

And that’s the fundamental thing — bigger issues decided more quickly.”

The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Public Service and Cabinet in conversation.

You can read more on the 2020 Garran Oration in the feature: 2020 GARRAN | GREG HUNT HONOURS EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC SERVANTS IN THE YEAR OF COVID.

You can also download an edited copy of the 2020 Garran Oration, or watch the video of the 2020 Garran Oration from the link below.

The ‘In Conversation’ discussion between Minister Hunt and Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM begins at 21:06 in the recording.