No, Minister is not about the record: it is about how the record is created and managed by largely unseen people in a volatile and almost always unpredictable environment. It delivers forensic analysis of what goes on back-stage as politicians prosecute their wars of mutual annihilation, the impact a Chief of Staff has on the transaction of public policy and what to do when it all comes crashing down.

Nothing prepares a person for the job of Chief of Staff to a Commonwealth Minister. There are no professional development courses, no specialist recruitment agencies and no training manuals. It was into this vortex that Allan Behm became Chief of Staff to Greg Combet in 2009, the minister responsible for managing carbon pricing and the pink batts crisis. A seasoned trouble shooter, Behm had an uncanny ability to anticipate and deflect political crises. By his measure success was being an invisible force.