Policy and politics: expectations of the next three years

Abstract

What to do in a third term? The platform of six years ago is almost all legislated for and under way – or out of reach. So is it time to rest or retire the policy wonks? Not if the policy wonks are in the public service. A third term is when they come into their own. As one senior minister puts it: “By the third term we have become experienced at government”. A loose translation might be: a government really only gets to know the machinery and demands and techniques of government after two terms.