Yeah most unpopular ever is a big call & maybe its not true but for those who are ministers, those who want to be a minister or have been & want to be one again they will oppose this idea. It maybe the most unpopular suggestion in their political minds. It could halt them joining a cabinet.
If they hear of the suggestion right now for the first time, they will oppose it & depending on their politically driven mental agility they may come up with reasons to oppose it within seconds and in case it gets real & more talked about they'll set about more effort into opposing reasons.
Its this...
WA is one of the few Australian states that technically allows non MPs to be Ministers of the Crown.
Yes, get your head around that. You don't have to be a member of Parliament to be a member of the Cabinet & to hold a ministry portfolio.
Now the previous question was why are Members of the Legislative Council allowed to take on Portfolios when in Government. There is a good argument for saying their primary role to be "The House of Review" and as such that's why we do not see an Upper House MP as the leader of the Opposition or the leader of the Government party/Premier. Logic extended, then no, the Upper House members are the Legislative Safeguard. They are the gate keepers to better legislators. They should stand up & be proper legislators & if they want to join the Cabinet or lead the party, switch houses.
So there's an additional mike drop for those wanting a better political system.
On the prior one, we have a Treasurer who is a politcal animal of high ambition who's risen in political circles with advice & direction from Julian Grills and others. He's learnt the game, played the game after serving his time as a Navy Lawyer. I'd argue he's learnt how to be a political animal, a factional manipulator & a party apparatchik successfully working the system.
He is not a statesman nor is he a person who's led an industry or a large commercial entity.
In his place we could have Michael Chaney, Richard Goyder or any other serious player in the Australian Corporate sector. Or maybe Allan Fels, Glenn Stephens or...?
Or a Government could appoint one of these as the Minister & the Minister could appoint one of the others as Deputy Under Treasurer.
Or we can look at other Ministers.
Lets look at Dave Kelly MLA.
Prior to Parliament he worked in the Union Movement "for 20 years".
Has a degree... a Batchelor in Arts (with no Mayor listed)
Is referred to as a Factional Power Broker after being a big player in the Union movement.
He's also considered to be a WALabor Party appartchik & was elected to Parliament in 2013.
He's been in cabinet for quite a bit. In fact three stints due to Cabinet reshuffles...
- From 17 March 2017 to 20 December 2019 he held 5 ministries. Minister for Water; Fisheries; Forestry; Innovation and ICT; Science
- From 20 December 2019 to 19 March 2021. he held 5 ministries. Minister for Water; Forestry; Innovation and ICT; Science; Youth
Work out which ministries he's had a huge impact in. 3 come to mind, Fisheries, Forestry & Water and they're all appallingly bad impacts. Good luck finding anyone who knew he has been minster for Innovation & ICT, minister for Science, minister for Science or minister for Youth.
Climbing the party rungs should not be a free open door to a $200,000+ salary and if you make a mess like he did then yes a reshuffle should happen & a non Member of Parliament with proper experience, skill and history relevent to the field for a full 4 year term is a great idea.
Roger Cook should have been replaced by a highly exerpienced Health Sector senior Management. His training is BA; GradDipBus (PR); MBA. He is by trade & training (and was prior to Parliament) a Public Relations Consultant but also worked for several WALabor MPs. He too is an experienced party appartchik & politcal factional groover and mover. He remains Deputy Premier and was long regarded as the annoited to follow Mark McGowan.
He was replaced by Amber-Jade Sanderson from the same faction as Roger Cook)
She is a Journalist by trade & worked in a Union (United Voice) Assistant Secretary.
Born in NSW in 1976.
Moved to London in 1976
Moved to Perth in 2001
Elected to Parliament in 2013
Goes to show, you don't have to be an experienced industry player to make it as a minister. You can be a journo or public relations person then go to the unions or a Labor MPs office, learn the political ropes, not the industry ones and end up a minister...when it's your turn in your faction's turn.
Too early to say Amber Jade is as bad as Roger Cook although for many it does look that way.
Perhaps that should have had a Richard Goyder for 4 years.
Now not likely you can get a Micahel Chaney or Richard Goyder to take on a ministry as a non MP. Whilst they would be extremely gifted in stream lining things, getting better value for money spent & likely bring in better accountibility with a 2, 3, 5, 10 & 50 year strategic plan with concrete benchmarking and milestone targets with Metrics...they might not be inclined to take on such a job.
For one, they would be up against political pressure from the Machivellean movers & bureacratic Sir Humphrey Applebees. Plus you really need some MPs to accept they need to not be ministers to get ministries working better & get Government working properly and actually serving the public, not political expediencies.
They're used to fixing things but getting the best people around them & below them and holding them to full account for wins & loses.
If you want to see a bloody deadly battle, get between a mediocre MP & a possible ministerial appoinment or between a bureaucrat & their ability to pursue activity with no real outcome or consequences.
I live in hope but...this is why the best people are in the private sector trying to deal with powerful Government MPs or appointees who would struggle to become even middle management in a small firm in the private sector.
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