This whole section really.

No Yanks on the t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ABC News front page

Hasan Piker was on 730 report the other night. Only the most brain poisoned Australians should know who that is.

Legal advice certainly not the only or even the most important issue re Robodebt (see AJPS special issue: doi.org/10.1080/1036...). But we think its role is generally overlooked in public policy/administration and, for the Robodebt case, could have mitigated some of the worst harms.

4. The role of very senior lawyers (e.g. Chief Legal Counsel). Expected to be able give clear legal advice agency leadership, but in this case demonstrated little to no engagement with the actual legal questions. Seniority may lead to prioritising politics?

3. This was not a matter of 'capacity'. There were more than enough lawyers in the two relevant agencies, most of whom did identify the key issues if given the chance to.

2. The perception of lawyer-client relationship can cause challenges for internal public service lawyers. If the 'client' disregards the advice, what obligations do government lawyers have to push back? Often, the answer seems to be 'none', which is clearly a problem.

A few other points we found notable in the analysis:
1. In policy literature there is an often an assumption that legal advice will be taken seriously. In this case, it was seen as an inconvenience, largely siloed away from the rest of the policy process.

Our paper is part of a fantastic special issue edited by @timlegrand.bsky.social and M. Jae Moon on 'malign policymaking'. Check out their introduction here: doi.org/10.1093/pols...

Replace the Productivity Commission with a Chilling Out Commission, problem solved folks.

Spoiler alert: unsurprisingly, most have avoided engaging with key issues like over-responsiveness to ministers.

Oh god if I have to write about more Morrison screw ups I'll go nuts