A journey through the very beginnings of the public service (where British Lords could buy their daft kid an upper level job in the army) until the failures of the Crimean war and the Charge of the Light Brigade exposed the need to move away from acceptable incompetence. A properly functioning public service, however, is free to give "frank and fearless advice" and becomes a long serving asset that can save politicians from repeating the mistakes of those before them.
Professor Scott Prasser has worked in federal and state governments in senior research and policy roles and is the author of Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries in Australia (2006).
