Victory in the War for Influence & Invoicing: Australia's Mandarin Advisory Complex at work in two reports

About this episode

The episode discusses the influence of advisory services in Canberra and the challenges of accountability in Australia's military spending.

President Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address warning of the US Military Industrial Complex echoes in Canberra today - but with industry and products replaced in the Canberra version by advisory services, post-career consultancies and invoices. Marcus and Michael discover that biofuel brewing isn't so easy even in a fuel crisis. Feedstock like the National Anti-Corruption Commission's (the NACC) indigestible and philosophically inventive 445 page report into the huge Robodebt scandal proves toxic enough to break the process. And the Grumpy Strategists attend another funeral of a fallen warrior for accountability and transparency when it comes to the $billions spent on Australia's faltering military - the now deceased but invaluable Major Projects Report, killed quietly by a Parliamentary committee that should know better. A new secret Parliamentary committee is apparently the antidote. But anyone who expects Defence's poor performance to improve because it talks to a few well-disposed politicians in a dark room is probably suffering from exposure to the NACC's report.. It's a lengthy episode but an important one for anyone interested in how the Canberra bureaucratic machine's most…

People in this episode

Hosts: Marcus, Michael

Topics covered

• influence
• advisory services
• military accountability
• political engagement
• bureaucracy
• consultancies

Keywords

• Canberra
• biofuel brewing
• NACC
• Robodebt
• military spending
• transparency
• consultancies
• politicians

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Anti-Corruption Commission, Parliamentary committee, Major Projects Report

Places: Australia

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