"In the earlier incarnation of the Police Reform Bills, there was a proposal for the Commissioner of Police to be appointed on the joint advice of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
In my opinion, this would be a constitutional nightmare, as our constitutional foundation is based upon the Opposition being excluded from any form of ministerial responsibility.Any exercise of prime ministerial advice is based upon the doctrine of the individual responsibility of ministers. Our system of government has a Westminster foundation that envisages the Leader of the Opposition being opposed to the Prime Minister.This attempt to get the two offices to offer joint advice does not take into account the adversarial nature of our constitutional arrangements, as well as the fact that the Prime Minister is bound by the rules of ministerial responsibility (for which censure, resignation and dismissal for no confidence are all possibilities), while the Leader of the Opposition has no constitutional responsibility to bear.As a consensual tool, the method of joint advice is untenable, primarily because one or other of the parties may change their minds after appointment, if poor performance becomes an issue, thereby creating an embarrassment for the appointee, or consensus may never be reached."
Under our existing constitutional arrangements, the responsibility for making appointments to offices within the State should always remain within the exclusive domain of the executive branch of government.
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