What role does bureaucracy play in democracy?
Mr. Fischer: A professional bureaucracy will have firstly a comprehensive set of departmental briefing papers for the incoming ministers, so that even if you have been a minister before, the secretary of that department will, on the first day, say congratulations minister, your bureaucracy stands ready to serve you and here is a comprehensive set of briefing papers in relation to whichever department and its detailed policies. Secondly, they should, without fear or favour, give robust advice, point to the problem areas, point to possible solutions. They should remain neutral in the campaign and endeavour to remain neutral while serving the government of the day in the best of traditions. Kuensel: How can bureaucracy remain neutral or independent of politics? Mr. Fischer: Well, don’t make public statements on elections or enter the debates of campaigns whether it’s for the candidates, contestants or the public at large. If leader X comes out with statement Y saying we should adopt taxat
