Would it be viable for governments to be run as a business, rather than run by bureaucrats employed by elected leaders?

One huge problem with governments is that the leaders get elected, but the people who elect them don’t get to choose the staff and, it is the chosen staff who make the majority of the ‘stuff ups’.

Imagine a system where government is like a ‘bowls club’. They take care of debating issues, maintaining law and order but, when it comes to spending money, business people take control.

The ‘board of directors’ make the decisions, not the government. They are simply there to implement the actions as directed by the board.

Imagine the amount of ‘dead wood’ that would be chucked out along the way.

Now if the business people in charge loose money, or are found to be incompetent, then they get sacked.

Now if the annual salary for the CEO of Australia was around the $5mill mark, I am sure we would have some serious contenders.

What do you think?

rehctub: "the people who elect them don’t get to choose the staff"

Actually, they do. For better or worse most of the higher ups in the public service are now on contracts. By the end of a governments term any that weren't up to scratch are long gone.

rstuart - You are demented! Our Defence Department has consistently "Stuffed up" any number of purchasing with no retribution. No consolation at all but it is exactly the same in the UK.
Interestingly though the Pom Ministry of Defence mandarins were given bonus payments! I wonder what we are doing for ours? I cannot believe we would be any smarter.
If your mates are on contract they get paid out every penny no matter how fast they are made "LOng gone".

JBowyer: "rstuart - You are demented!"

Possibly, particularly as I don't see where you disagree with what I said.

What you did say re-enforced my point really. You say the Pom's bureaucrats stuffed up - and yet got big bonuses. So despite the government doing things in the way the corporate world does, we still get stuff ups.

This should come as no surprise to you. Despite the rehctub's liking for how the corporate world does things there is no shortage of stuff ups there either. Lehman Brothers did things exactly the way rehctub approves of - and yet went broke. Or how about when Optus's Queensland customers got disconnected from the rest of Australia because Optus hadn't ever bothered to get their backup via Telstra working. Then we have the HIH fiasco - which sent some the world wide accounting firm that did their audits broke.

Good points rstuart!
HIH never got the recognition it deserved! It exposed Australia as the absolute wild west of World business. Do what you like how you like and indolent Mandarins just do nothing!
Insurance is a world wide business and ours is in the hands of foreigners who now make us pay for the corruption of HIH.
I hate Government services and lackeys they are so bad and so useless it beggars belief.

Do not take your frustration out on the ordinary public servants. They are equally frustrated by the workings of incompetent, politically appointed CEO who has no real understanding of delivering a service to the Australian citizens.
Their role is to carry out the policy of the government of the day, whether good or bad.
The ordinary public servants have to try to bail them out of any mess they create.
One DHS Director was asked why he did not listen to the concerns of the public. He bleated that his job was to carry out the policy of the government. He was reminded that his job was also to advise the government whether or not the policy was workable, feasible or right.
This was an issue of the government’s propensity to solve health problems by mandatory medication via a process that could not be accurately or reach those who might benefit, when there was other option available.
Mandatory medication was putting at risk 100’s, perhaps even thousands of Australian citizens at risk. People who were extremely sensitive or allergic to the chemicals. He was asked how the government proposed to protect these people. Neither he nor the other bureaucrats on the panel could or refused to answer.
He was then asked if the government changed its mind would he insist that the government carry out its original policy. His reply was the same; He was employed to carry out government policy.
Public service is a business. Its business is to serve its employers, i.e. the people through the parliament.
It should and did in the past employ appropriate skilled and experienced people.