Content
Academics lead study of PM’s Department
Two University of the Sunshine Coast academics are leading a major research project to document the first 100 years of Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
USC’s Associate Professor in History Joanne Scott and Lecturer in Politics Bronwyn Stevens recently received a $92,012 Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme grant for the two-year project.
Dr Scott said the team – which includes Professor Patrick Weller of Griffith University and Dr Ross Laurie of the University of Queensland – would work closely with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in researching the department’s history.
They plan to produce a book entitled “From postbox to policy powerhouse: The history and politics of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet 1911-2010”, to be published in 2011, as well as a series of articles and a photographic exhibition.
Dr Scott said the department’s centenary on 1 July 2011 provided an opportunity to chart its history, explore its development, understand its dilemmas and assess its performance.
“As the first analytical study of this department, the project will develop an historical narrative and thematic analyses to show how the department has flexibly and creatively supported the priorities and prerogatives of Prime Ministers," she said.
Dr Scott said this study of continuity and change in the department would provide insights into how governments could build over the next 100 years, especially as the need to coordinate big issues like climate change, capacity constraints, terrorism and skills shortages becomes more important.
Ms Stevens explained that the title of the book highlighted how one of the nation’s most powerful departments had very humble beginnings.
“Originally the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet was not a very powerful department at all,” she said. “It was considered a postbox … the department that directed paper from between departments.”
“The department began to gain authority once World War I started and the Federal Government took more control under the Defence Power of the Constitution. The same thing happened again in World War II.
“From the Whitlam Government onwards, Prime Ministers have assembled powerful groups of people to advise them. So much so, that they are now often better advised about major policy issues than their ministers.”
— Terry Walsh