A raft of recent political scandals in Australia has generated widespread media and public interest in the role and accountability of ministerial staffers, and their impact on relations between ministers and their public service advisers. Such scandals include the notorious 'Children overboard' affair and the more recent AWB imbroglio. In Power without responsibility Anne Tiernan describes the contemporary working environment of political staffers, their formal and less formal roles, the challenges they face, and the forces that have escalated the growth in their numbers and influence.