work. What can be done about this? Terry Moran : One of the consequences of what happens in nearly all jurisdictions is that the public comes to feel that public services are riven with inadequacy and incompetence. This is just not true. If you look back over the past 40 years, the transformation of Australia in an economic and social sense would have been impossible without the drive and implementation capacity of the public services of Australia. That change has transformed Australia so that we are far more prosperous, and, in other respects have all done better than would have otherwise been the case. If Australia is much better because of what has been done by governments and the public services over the past 40 years, we have to ask why it is that the public has now reached a point where it is almost conditioned to believe that poor performance is endemic. I think it's good that there are such investigative and inquisitorial bodies, which are there ultimately to lighten the load of parliament itself, but I think it's probably time for a Commission of Inquiry to look into how these bodies could relate more effectively to the Australian Parliaments. The full transcript of Terry and John's conversation is available here . Want to follow The Conversation? Sign up to our free newsletter to get the day's top stories in your inbox each morning, with a special wrap on Saturday. Email address ? Republish You are free to republish