Yes Minister meets Alice in Wonderland
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read the piece by Myles Peterson headlined as above on the Fairfax National Times website.
Peterson describes his brief time in the “public service rabbit hole” writing ministerial speeches for the Health Department.
There were whoops of joy in the office when the boss came in and said the section was under budget.
“Oh, so that’s good? You’ve saved money?”
“No, no,” her smile turned to ash as she gave me that pitying look I usually received when I asked a question. “It means training.”
Peterson then recounted attending a conference of dubious relevance, staying in premium accommodation with all expenses paid.
It’s more cringeworthy because it’s the Health Department. If a section can save money for whatever reason, surely it should be channelled into services? (more…)
Succession to the throne
It’s no secret I support the constitutional monarchy for Australia, but I won’t repeat the arguments here.
This post is to welcome reforms to the laws of succession proposed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Mr Brown has suggested equal opportunities for women heirs and Catholics.
I’m ambivalent about the first issue, but strongly believe Catholics should be allowed to marry into the Royal Family, be in the line of succession and inherit the throne. (more…)
Turnbull’s ‘courageous’ politics
Every time a politician does something stupid I’m reminded of the Yes Minister episode in which Sir Humphrey advises Jim Hacker the proposed course of action would be courageous.
Translated from bureaucratic language that means political death.
It’s very hard to fathom why Malcolm Turnbull wants to delay millions of Australians receiving a timely handout from the government through its economic stimulus package.
I concede a personal interest in this; my family stands to receive about $5000.
Putting that interest aside, I actually think the package has some merit. I was less convinced about the December handout, because of the timing and the lack of an overall strategy. (more…)
Government plans to censor the web
For some bizarre unknown reason the Australian Government is moving unilaterally to join China in censoring the internet.
I’m not making this up and it’s not April Fool’s Day.
The Courier Mail reports that Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has hatched a $44.2 million plan to control what we read online.
Internet censorship will involve two tiers – one level of mandatory filtering for all Australians and an optional level that will provide a “clean feed”, censoring adult material. (more…)
Councils oppose corruption
This takes the prize for the worst media release I’ve seen for a long time.
The headline is unbelievably: “Councils oppose corruption”. Wow! Do they really?
It’s from the Local Government Association of South Australia. It would be more newsworthy, of course, if they supported corruption.
The introduction is nonsenical:
SA’s Local Government Association has expressed confidence in SA’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) but has asked the State Government for its views.
I think it’s about whether there should be an independent crime commission in South Australia. (more…)
Handy handout from the government
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is giving cash away, $10.4 billion in fact to stimulate the economy. The total includes a one-off $1000 payment in December for each child to families with dependent children.
We’ve got four children, so unless I’ve missed something in the fine print we’ll get $4000.
I had to research a little to find the income threshold, in case we missed out on that score.
According to The Australian, the money is for families earning up to $100,800 with one child; $111,000 with two children; and $122,000 with three or more.
We had a one-off high-income year in 2007-08 thanks to capital gains on shares and a company bonus, but we fit under the threshold for three or more children, so I guess we’re included.
I won’t start counting it though until it’s in the bank. (more…)
Government services online
I read earlier this year the new Rudd regime plans a whole-of-government approach to Commonwealth IT services.
Labor believed the Howard Government wasted money allowing an ad-hoc uncoordinated system to develop whereby individual departments and agencies contracted their own services.
Labor is right in this this regard. While decision making at a local level should be permitted, the big picture issues such as architecture and development should be centralised and properly co-ordinated.
I can relate a personal experience of government departments with conflicting systems from a user perspective. (more…)
