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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/18/malcolm-turnbulls-big-idea-for-a-home-affairs-ministry-is-a-big-gamble
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Malcolm Turnbull's big idea for a home affairs ministry is a big gamble | Malcolm Turnbull's big idea for a home affairs ministry is a big gamble |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| How you feel about Malcolm Turnbull’s big bold foray into national security policy – the creation of a new home affairs ministry (despite no one actually asking for one) – depends on a couple of things. | How you feel about Malcolm Turnbull’s big bold foray into national security policy – the creation of a new home affairs ministry (despite no one actually asking for one) – depends on a couple of things. |
| The opening test to apply is how you feel about Peter Dutton gaining ministerial responsibility for Australia’s intelligence agencies, the federal police – as well as his immigration and border force fiefdom. | The opening test to apply is how you feel about Peter Dutton gaining ministerial responsibility for Australia’s intelligence agencies, the federal police – as well as his immigration and border force fiefdom. |
| The first question to ask yourself is this: does handing Dutton that power sound like a good idea? | The first question to ask yourself is this: does handing Dutton that power sound like a good idea? |
| The next pertinent question to ask is one about a relationship. How well do you think Dutton will get on with George Brandis – assuming of course that Brandis remains in the attorney general’s portfolio (a large-ish ‘if’, granted) by the time all this rubber hits the road? | The next pertinent question to ask is one about a relationship. How well do you think Dutton will get on with George Brandis – assuming of course that Brandis remains in the attorney general’s portfolio (a large-ish ‘if’, granted) by the time all this rubber hits the road? |
| We’d all better hope the answer to question two is very well, because courtesy of Turnbull’s Big Idea, Australia’s intelligence services now have two key relationships in the government to manage. | We’d all better hope the answer to question two is very well, because courtesy of Turnbull’s Big Idea, Australia’s intelligence services now have two key relationships in the government to manage. |
| The spooks have to report to their new minister, Dutton, (in a portfolio of comely proportions befitting the government’s most powerful conservative figure) – but their old minister, Brandis, still needs to sign off on their warrants. | The spooks have to report to their new minister, Dutton, (in a portfolio of comely proportions befitting the government’s most powerful conservative figure) – but their old minister, Brandis, still needs to sign off on their warrants. |
| It’s correct to say that this particular element of the overhaul is likely a welcome improvement from the perspective of accountability and oversight. Brandis (or his successor as attorney general) no longer has divided policy loyalties on national security. He can just be first law officer, not first law officer simultaneously signing off on a clandestine intelligence operation. | It’s correct to say that this particular element of the overhaul is likely a welcome improvement from the perspective of accountability and oversight. Brandis (or his successor as attorney general) no longer has divided policy loyalties on national security. He can just be first law officer, not first law officer simultaneously signing off on a clandestine intelligence operation. |
| Apart from ending a long-term philosophical conflict, there’s the “complementarities” argument. | Apart from ending a long-term philosophical conflict, there’s the “complementarities” argument. |
| As Brandis told us all, rather too candidly on Tuesday – federal attorneys are very, very, very busy people, and they can’t have “exclusive” eyes on national security, because there is the appointment of judges, and freedom of information requests, family law and the bankruptcy act, to deal with. | As Brandis told us all, rather too candidly on Tuesday – federal attorneys are very, very, very busy people, and they can’t have “exclusive” eyes on national security, because there is the appointment of judges, and freedom of information requests, family law and the bankruptcy act, to deal with. |
| Best to give Dutton that “exclusive” focus, Brandis thought out loud, to reporters, (despite resisting the overhaul behind the scenes for months) because the complementarities were better. | Best to give Dutton that “exclusive” focus, Brandis thought out loud, to reporters, (despite resisting the overhaul behind the scenes for months) because the complementarities were better. |
| While that rationale carries a certain prima facie logic, it’s also correct to say there are now two distinct ministerial hands on the tiller instead of one – all in the guise of streamlining the current counter-terrorism arrangements, and preventing what officials rather delightfully term “stove piping”. | While that rationale carries a certain prima facie logic, it’s also correct to say there are now two distinct ministerial hands on the tiller instead of one – all in the guise of streamlining the current counter-terrorism arrangements, and preventing what officials rather delightfully term “stove piping”. |
| Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, put it well on Tuesday when he said any “grit” in the Dutton/Brandis relationship could be problematic for intelligence operations, which is obviously problematic for all of us, given we rely on the efficiency of the counter-terrorism framework to keep us safe. | Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, put it well on Tuesday when he said any “grit” in the Dutton/Brandis relationship could be problematic for intelligence operations, which is obviously problematic for all of us, given we rely on the efficiency of the counter-terrorism framework to keep us safe. |
| So we’d better hope for the best, to put it mildly. | So we’d better hope for the best, to put it mildly. |
| We’d also better hope it’s a good use of the time of our intelligence services and public servants to nut out how the Big Idea is going to work in practice, which will be a reasonably complex task, at a time when these folks already have a serious day job. | We’d also better hope it’s a good use of the time of our intelligence services and public servants to nut out how the Big Idea is going to work in practice, which will be a reasonably complex task, at a time when these folks already have a serious day job. |
| Recapping that specific day job again: trying to disrupt national security threats, in a complex environment. Pretty busy and important day job, that one. | Recapping that specific day job again: trying to disrupt national security threats, in a complex environment. Pretty busy and important day job, that one. |
| It’s cartoonish to say this is all about the prime minister rewarding old mate Dutton, on the basis you keep your friends close, and your (potential) enemies closer. | It’s cartoonish to say this is all about the prime minister rewarding old mate Dutton, on the basis you keep your friends close, and your (potential) enemies closer. |
| Nothing is ever that simple outside a House of Cards storyboard– although it remains an irrefutable fact that Dutton wanted this to happen, and if Dutton really wanted it to happen, it would have been difficult for Turnbull, in his current position, to say no. | Nothing is ever that simple outside a House of Cards storyboard– although it remains an irrefutable fact that Dutton wanted this to happen, and if Dutton really wanted it to happen, it would have been difficult for Turnbull, in his current position, to say no. |
| Quite apart from what one must do to keep one’s feet in politics, it’s quite clear that the prime minister has become possessed of the merits of his Big Idea, and Turnbull is a political figure with the confidence to say just because you have the defence and intelligence and policing community less-than-enamoured with your concept does not mean that you are wrong. | Quite apart from what one must do to keep one’s feet in politics, it’s quite clear that the prime minister has become possessed of the merits of his Big Idea, and Turnbull is a political figure with the confidence to say just because you have the defence and intelligence and policing community less-than-enamoured with your concept does not mean that you are wrong. |
| There’s that abiding entrepreneurial spirit to consider – the instinct that you can, somehow, see what others can’t. | There’s that abiding entrepreneurial spirit to consider – the instinct that you can, somehow, see what others can’t. |
| And sometimes institutional resistance does need to be crashed through, because institutional resistance is more about people aggressively defending their turf, and being comfortable in old Commonwealth Club habits, than it is about about serving the public interest. | And sometimes institutional resistance does need to be crashed through, because institutional resistance is more about people aggressively defending their turf, and being comfortable in old Commonwealth Club habits, than it is about about serving the public interest. |
| Now, whether this example of crashing through is, ultimately, inspired or reckless? | Now, whether this example of crashing through is, ultimately, inspired or reckless? |
| Well, we are just going to have to wait and see. | Well, we are just going to have to wait and see. |
| It’s a very big roll of the dice, and one conclusion cannot be avoided: Turnbull, and the ambitious, empire building, old mate Dutton, will wear the responsibility in the event it all goes south. | It’s a very big roll of the dice, and one conclusion cannot be avoided: Turnbull, and the ambitious, empire building, old mate Dutton, will wear the responsibility in the event it all goes south. |
| Peter Dutton | Peter Dutton |
| Australian politics | Australian politics |
| Malcolm Turnbull | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Australian security and counter-terrorism | Australian security and counter-terrorism |
| Liberal party | Liberal party |
| George Brandis | George Brandis |
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