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No, Minister: So You Want to Be a Chief of Staff
No, Minister is not about the political record: it is about how the record is created and managed by largely unseen people in a volatile and almost always unpredictable environment.
No, Minister is not about the record: it is about how the record is created and managed by largely unseen people in a volatile and almost always unpredictable environment. It delivers forensic analysis of what goes on back-stage as politicians prosecute their wars of mutual annihilation, the impact a Chief of Staff has on the transaction of public policy and what to do when it all comes crashing down.
Nothing prepares a person for the job of Chief of Staff to a Commonwealth Minister. There are no professional development courses, no specialist recruitment agencies and no training manuals. It was into this vortex that Allan Behm became Chief of Staff to Greg Combet in 2009, the minister responsible for managing carbon pricing and the pink batts crisis. A seasoned trouble shooter, Behm had an uncanny ability to anticipate and deflect political crises. By his measure success was being an invisible force.
No, Minister is not about the record: it is about how the record is created and managed by largely unseen people in a volatile and almost always unpredictable environment. It delivers forensic analysis of what goes on back-stage as politicians prosecute their wars of mutual annihilation, the impact a Chief of Staff has on the transaction of public policy and what to do when it all comes crashing down.
Nothing prepares a person for the job of Chief of Staff to a Commonwealth Minister. There are no professional development courses, no specialist recruitment agencies and no training manuals. It was into this vortex that Allan Behm became Chief of Staff to Greg Combet in 2009, the minister responsible for managing carbon pricing and the pink batts crisis. A seasoned trouble shooter, Behm had an uncanny ability to anticipate and deflect political crises. By his measure success was being an invisible force.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2015
13 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Allan Behm
5 books3 followersAllan Behm is Director, International & Security Affairs Program at the Australia Institute in Canberra.
He apecialises in international and security policy development, political and security risk evaluation, policy analysis and development, and negotiating the policy/politics interface.
Following a career spanning nearly thirty years in the Australian Public Service, he was Chief of Staff to Minister for Climate Change and Industry Greg Combet (2009 to 2013) and senior advisor to the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong (2017-19).
He has a significant publishing record and is a respected commentator in both the electronic and print media. His book 'No, Minister – an insider’s account of what happens behind the scenes in Parliament House' – was published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2015. It remains a “go to” text for those who are interested in leadership, political management, policy development and reform.
In March 2022, Upswell published 'No Enemies No Friends', a critical examination of what limits Australia as an actor on the international stage.
Allan has tertiary qualifications in classics, philosophy and Asian studies.
He apecialises in international and security policy development, political and security risk evaluation, policy analysis and development, and negotiating the policy/politics interface.
Following a career spanning nearly thirty years in the Australian Public Service, he was Chief of Staff to Minister for Climate Change and Industry Greg Combet (2009 to 2013) and senior advisor to the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong (2017-19).
He has a significant publishing record and is a respected commentator in both the electronic and print media. His book 'No, Minister – an insider’s account of what happens behind the scenes in Parliament House' – was published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2015. It remains a “go to” text for those who are interested in leadership, political management, policy development and reform.
In March 2022, Upswell published 'No Enemies No Friends', a critical examination of what limits Australia as an actor on the international stage.
Allan has tertiary qualifications in classics, philosophy and Asian studies.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 14, 2015
Many reasons have been offered for why the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government fell short, but fundamentally I believe it came down to a failure of governance. They had smart, capable people, there were good ideas and policies and no shortage of hard work. But they couldn’t put it together in a sustained or effective fashion.
‘No Minister: So you want to be a chief of staff’ helps show exactly what that means. To be clear, Behm’s purpose is not to explain what went wrong, but rather try and show how to make government work, at least from within a single Minister’s office. Behm spends much of the book explaining how he set about his task as Greg Combet’s Chief of Staff, and how he thinks about issues of leadership, management, and building an efficient, trusting, value-driven team.
Behm’s position in the Minister for Climate Change’s office was always something of an oddity around Canberra. As Allan reveals early on, the intention had been for Combet to take over the Defence Portfolio, hence bringing in the ‘bow-tied assassin’* who offered a deep knowledge of the Defence organisation, the public service and a fine strategic mind.
One of the values of this book is that it focuses on the governance of governing. That is, how do you do the job? How do you build and manage relationships internally and externally so that you can achieve what you want to achieve.
That’s a vital issue and one often sidelined in our discussions of why the three baby boomer PMs (Rudd, Gillard and now Abbott) have been collectively viewed as failures. As one perceptive piece in The Atlantic recently noted ‘A great deal of political writing these days is indistinguishable from theatre criticism: Its chief concerns are storyline, costumes, and the quality of public performances'. Behm’s book is a good antidote to that. While there are some amusing character sketches, the weight of the book is on the process of running a government, rather than lumping it all on the ability of the PM to spin their way ahead.
Behm spends a lot of time in this book talking about wisdom, which he views as experience diffused through reflection. As such, he is quite critical of many of the young jocks that often ran the show in the Rudd era, though he is quick to sincerely praise many of the young staffers he personally worked with.
On this score, I must stress that I bear no actual wisdom as to life on the hill. I’ve never worked in a ministerial or political office, though like many in Canberra I’ve wondered if I could endure. But I do have friends and colleagues who have toiled those long hours at a variety of levels, and I’ve read my fair share of memoirs and accounts, so take the rest of this review with that caveat in mind.
One notable theme is the issue of ‘wheel-spinning’: That is, lots of effort for little result. While making no excuses for the long hours, Behm rightly notes how much work seems to be done that doesn’t end up furthering the aims of the government. While it’s something we can all reflect on in our own areas, I admit to wondering about the willingness of so many political operatives to sweat the small stuff. Every issue is treated as fundamental and worth responding to rather than keeping a focus on the larger issues of strategy that ultimately determine elections and legacies. Instead as Behm laments ‘in the current environment, politics is totally preoccupied with and consumed by tactics’.
One other message of the book is the idea of civility as a requirement for the process to occur. Behm stresses the necessity of politics being a hard business and he is happy to criticise individuals and parties he disagrees with. Yet he argues throughout that notions of ‘civility, decorum and respect’ are the functional basis for being successful in the profession of politics. In one intriguing line he suggests ‘a government’s image of competence is not really helped where scorn and disdain replace civility and decorum.’ While we often don’t link the concepts of capacity and civility, the most capable figures I’ve encountered have often been the most civil. It’s those who doubt their ability to perform at that level who tend to be the real scrappers searching for every inch of advantage.
Two final concerns that resonated with me were his concern about the rise of cynicism about and in politics, and the need for clear agreement and articulation of principles before policies are developed and announced. Neither claim is new, but they seem fundamental starting points for constructing a more effective political environment.
While I love a good memoir, I’ve largely left alone the stream of books by the politicians of the Rudd-Gillard era. They are all out much too soon for any real reflection to have occurred. ‘No Minister’ however is the second book by a staffer I’ve read and enjoyed. Given my favourite book on the Keating government is Don Watson’s beautiful ‘Reflections of a bleeding heart’, maybe more encouragement should be made for staffers, rather than their bosses, to pen memoirs and tomes.
Of course, with such a theme, this book will only be read by Canberra insiders, but that’s probably the audience who need to read it most. Highly recommended. As Greg Combet says in the foreword ‘it’s a gem.’
*Behm is famous for his preference for bow-ties. And pleasingly, if you look carefully at the cover, the advisor is also fashioned with a bow-tie.
‘No Minister: So you want to be a chief of staff’ helps show exactly what that means. To be clear, Behm’s purpose is not to explain what went wrong, but rather try and show how to make government work, at least from within a single Minister’s office. Behm spends much of the book explaining how he set about his task as Greg Combet’s Chief of Staff, and how he thinks about issues of leadership, management, and building an efficient, trusting, value-driven team.
Behm’s position in the Minister for Climate Change’s office was always something of an oddity around Canberra. As Allan reveals early on, the intention had been for Combet to take over the Defence Portfolio, hence bringing in the ‘bow-tied assassin’* who offered a deep knowledge of the Defence organisation, the public service and a fine strategic mind.
One of the values of this book is that it focuses on the governance of governing. That is, how do you do the job? How do you build and manage relationships internally and externally so that you can achieve what you want to achieve.
That’s a vital issue and one often sidelined in our discussions of why the three baby boomer PMs (Rudd, Gillard and now Abbott) have been collectively viewed as failures. As one perceptive piece in The Atlantic recently noted ‘A great deal of political writing these days is indistinguishable from theatre criticism: Its chief concerns are storyline, costumes, and the quality of public performances'. Behm’s book is a good antidote to that. While there are some amusing character sketches, the weight of the book is on the process of running a government, rather than lumping it all on the ability of the PM to spin their way ahead.
Behm spends a lot of time in this book talking about wisdom, which he views as experience diffused through reflection. As such, he is quite critical of many of the young jocks that often ran the show in the Rudd era, though he is quick to sincerely praise many of the young staffers he personally worked with.
On this score, I must stress that I bear no actual wisdom as to life on the hill. I’ve never worked in a ministerial or political office, though like many in Canberra I’ve wondered if I could endure. But I do have friends and colleagues who have toiled those long hours at a variety of levels, and I’ve read my fair share of memoirs and accounts, so take the rest of this review with that caveat in mind.
One notable theme is the issue of ‘wheel-spinning’: That is, lots of effort for little result. While making no excuses for the long hours, Behm rightly notes how much work seems to be done that doesn’t end up furthering the aims of the government. While it’s something we can all reflect on in our own areas, I admit to wondering about the willingness of so many political operatives to sweat the small stuff. Every issue is treated as fundamental and worth responding to rather than keeping a focus on the larger issues of strategy that ultimately determine elections and legacies. Instead as Behm laments ‘in the current environment, politics is totally preoccupied with and consumed by tactics’.
One other message of the book is the idea of civility as a requirement for the process to occur. Behm stresses the necessity of politics being a hard business and he is happy to criticise individuals and parties he disagrees with. Yet he argues throughout that notions of ‘civility, decorum and respect’ are the functional basis for being successful in the profession of politics. In one intriguing line he suggests ‘a government’s image of competence is not really helped where scorn and disdain replace civility and decorum.’ While we often don’t link the concepts of capacity and civility, the most capable figures I’ve encountered have often been the most civil. It’s those who doubt their ability to perform at that level who tend to be the real scrappers searching for every inch of advantage.
Two final concerns that resonated with me were his concern about the rise of cynicism about and in politics, and the need for clear agreement and articulation of principles before policies are developed and announced. Neither claim is new, but they seem fundamental starting points for constructing a more effective political environment.
While I love a good memoir, I’ve largely left alone the stream of books by the politicians of the Rudd-Gillard era. They are all out much too soon for any real reflection to have occurred. ‘No Minister’ however is the second book by a staffer I’ve read and enjoyed. Given my favourite book on the Keating government is Don Watson’s beautiful ‘Reflections of a bleeding heart’, maybe more encouragement should be made for staffers, rather than their bosses, to pen memoirs and tomes.
Of course, with such a theme, this book will only be read by Canberra insiders, but that’s probably the audience who need to read it most. Highly recommended. As Greg Combet says in the foreword ‘it’s a gem.’
*Behm is famous for his preference for bow-ties. And pleasingly, if you look carefully at the cover, the advisor is also fashioned with a bow-tie.
November 5, 2021
If you're interested in the role of a Chief of Staff, particularly within the Australian context, this book is excellent.
Behm gives an account of his time as Combet's CoS, describing in fine detail his role, responsibilities, and approach. These are all highlighted by and interspersed with detailed accounts of the business of the office, touching on subjects ranging from huge undertaking such as the price on carbon, through to how to deal with abusive phone calls received at the office.
It's also a record of a specific period in Australian political history, and provides a point of view from within the Rudd and Gillard governments which is vastly different to that which was presented in the media at the time.
Behm draws a lot on political theory and history, with some high minded and esoteric comparisons and references, making this book an enlightening and entertaining read.
Behm gives an account of his time as Combet's CoS, describing in fine detail his role, responsibilities, and approach. These are all highlighted by and interspersed with detailed accounts of the business of the office, touching on subjects ranging from huge undertaking such as the price on carbon, through to how to deal with abusive phone calls received at the office.
It's also a record of a specific period in Australian political history, and provides a point of view from within the Rudd and Gillard governments which is vastly different to that which was presented in the media at the time.
Behm draws a lot on political theory and history, with some high minded and esoteric comparisons and references, making this book an enlightening and entertaining read.
August 2, 2018
Despite the political differences between the author and myself, I found this book to be insightful, entertaining and generally fair and well balanced. Definitely the best thing to have ever come out of the Australian Labor Party.
January 3, 2018
This may be based on what actually happens in politics, so if you are after a dry, overly effusive, utterly boring and overly complicated stuffy book, then this is for you. It is not that interesting. It does not have a shred of humour.
It uses overly complex words where a simple one will do, resulting in a dry, hard slog of reading with little reward. For example "Sinodinos needed no explanation concerning our perambulation"; "Suspicion is a pernicious obstacle to teamwork" and "The nexus between strategy is close. Much of the modern management literature defines strategy in terms of the methodology of transacting or 'operationalising' policy."
It uses overly complex words where a simple one will do, resulting in a dry, hard slog of reading with little reward. For example "Sinodinos needed no explanation concerning our perambulation"; "Suspicion is a pernicious obstacle to teamwork" and "The nexus between strategy is close. Much of the modern management literature defines strategy in terms of the methodology of transacting or 'operationalising' policy."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews