Can you imagine Australia without government bureaucrats?

On Afternoon Light #186 Georgina Downer speaks with Colin Milner to tell the remarkable story of the Commonwealth’s first public servant Sir Robert Garran. A father of federation and authority on the constitution, whose long career exerted more power and influence than some prime ministers.

Colin Milner, BA Hons, LLB (Sydney University), is a former official of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) who served as Special Representative to Nauru in 2004–05 and Acting High Commissioner in 2013. Currently a PhD candidate in the Australian National University’s School of History, he is preparing a thesis on the factors that shaped the world view of the distinguished Australian constitutional lawyer and public servant Robert Randolph Garran. He has produced numerous publications in this area, focusing in particular on Garran’s activities as the first Secretary of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department from 1901–1932.