Yes, it is just a mere formality before Nathan Rees ceases to be Premier of NSW and a new marionette show orchestrated from the right-wing faction of the ALP begins. The choice of a woman - Kristina Keneally or Carmel Tebbutt - will be a change of puppet for sure. But the lads in Sussex Street miss the point: we are not fooled by the attempt to imitate Queensland with Anna Bligh.
As the Upper House relationship between the ALP and the Shooters Party remains at a stalemate the prospect of a hung Parliament needing to be dissolved for an election looms large.
The members of Cabinet should be asking themselves how did they end up in this mess. All they have to do is think back to the absurd lobbying of Laurie Glanfield and John Hatzistergos over the merger of the Protective Commissioner and Public Trustee in June. They secured the passage for that via wooing The Greens in exchange for stuffing up The Shooter's bill on bang-bangs in National Parks. If Glanfield and Hatzistergos had not been so adamant about pushing through on that issue then maybe Labor would still have The Shooters onside. Now they don't and it is impossible to govern the state without at least 3 secure votes from minor parties.
Showing posts with label NSW State Government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NSW State Government. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
More Significant Jobs To Go From Probate Registry
I've heard before that the Probate registry at the NSW Supreme Court has been under-resourced. Now I hear that some senior jobs will be abolished. I'm hearing that private legal practitioners are aghast about the sword of Damocles falling on the registrars.
It seems that there are several Sooty-like glove-puppets that have been posted in various parts of the Attorney General's Department and agencies. They do their master's bidding, boss the employees around, all in the name of efficiency. The chanting about "efficiency" sounds like some codeword for a KGB covert operation: target and eliminate!
Meanwhile several other government departments are cash-starved and under-staffed, and that is what is supposed to pass for saving money and improving services. Some departments cannot even afford to brief out for fully outsourced legal opinions because it costs too much. So half-baked requests are made as if "near enough is good enough".
Makes a mockery of Nathan Rees' claim that his government is all about creating "jobs, jobs, jobs."
The cut-slash-burn approach to the public sector is disastrous for the people who lose employment, disastrous for those left who have to carry more tasks, and of course ensures that there can never be "better value" and "better service" to the public. Why is it that talentless individuals rise to the top of bureaucracy, and are rarely made to walk the plank for idiotic decisions? Won't be very long now until the mega-earthquake hits and everything in the public sector crashes in a heap.
It seems that there are several Sooty-like glove-puppets that have been posted in various parts of the Attorney General's Department and agencies. They do their master's bidding, boss the employees around, all in the name of efficiency. The chanting about "efficiency" sounds like some codeword for a KGB covert operation: target and eliminate!
Meanwhile several other government departments are cash-starved and under-staffed, and that is what is supposed to pass for saving money and improving services. Some departments cannot even afford to brief out for fully outsourced legal opinions because it costs too much. So half-baked requests are made as if "near enough is good enough".
Makes a mockery of Nathan Rees' claim that his government is all about creating "jobs, jobs, jobs."
The cut-slash-burn approach to the public sector is disastrous for the people who lose employment, disastrous for those left who have to carry more tasks, and of course ensures that there can never be "better value" and "better service" to the public. Why is it that talentless individuals rise to the top of bureaucracy, and are rarely made to walk the plank for idiotic decisions? Won't be very long now until the mega-earthquake hits and everything in the public sector crashes in a heap.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Barry O'Farrell - Please Try Harder
Barry O'Farrell seems a nice enough bloke and landed the mantle of Liberal Party leader in 2007 after the debacle caused by the far right of the party and the pathetic campaigning of Mr Debnam.
Barry, you've got to land some good punches on Labor and to roll out your policies to convince us that we should elect you.
You have nominated the issue of Party donations in today's paper. Yes, that sounds nice. However, we need to hear more from you and about realistic policies.
NSW is dead. It has to be kick started again. Labor has to go. The deadlock of minor parties in the upper house has to be resolved.
The SES bureaucrats who slavishly borrow idiotic faddish ideas from corporate consultancy have to be booted out. They also have to go because they fail to advise the Government and simply boot-lick their master's boots.
A complete colonic irrigation of all the offices of Director General of NSW departments is essential. That is how to have reform. Not the moronic Super Department model, and certainly not the parrot-fashion chirping of "efficiency" and "better service" as doublethink for sacking frontline and back office employees in the public sector.
Barry, you've got to land some good punches on Labor and to roll out your policies to convince us that we should elect you.
You have nominated the issue of Party donations in today's paper. Yes, that sounds nice. However, we need to hear more from you and about realistic policies.
NSW is dead. It has to be kick started again. Labor has to go. The deadlock of minor parties in the upper house has to be resolved.
The SES bureaucrats who slavishly borrow idiotic faddish ideas from corporate consultancy have to be booted out. They also have to go because they fail to advise the Government and simply boot-lick their master's boots.
A complete colonic irrigation of all the offices of Director General of NSW departments is essential. That is how to have reform. Not the moronic Super Department model, and certainly not the parrot-fashion chirping of "efficiency" and "better service" as doublethink for sacking frontline and back office employees in the public sector.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Joe Tripodi -- the last part of the umbilical cord??
Perhaps the last splice on the umbilical cord needed to cut Nathan Rees loose is found in which way the wind blows for Joe Tripodi. It is a pity that Ian Macdonald is not removed simultaneously!
And need we be surprised that the NSW Police attrition rates are rising? All part and parcel of the defunct and dysfunctional policies and practices implemented by the moguls at the top of the public sector --- Police officers completing performance indicator sheets, and other such tripe! The NSW public sector is awash with superfluous paperwork dreamed up by consultants who are handsomely paid for artificial and needless advice.
And need we be surprised that the NSW Police attrition rates are rising? All part and parcel of the defunct and dysfunctional policies and practices implemented by the moguls at the top of the public sector --- Police officers completing performance indicator sheets, and other such tripe! The NSW public sector is awash with superfluous paperwork dreamed up by consultants who are handsomely paid for artificial and needless advice.
Monday, August 10, 2009
A Funny Thing Happened to NSW State Plan!
Yes folks a funny thing has happened to the NSW State Plan - most bets are off it seems as the targets set by the plan are unattainable! Ha! Gee you do not have to qualify as a member of Mensa to figure out that the State Plan was sheer PR.
NSW Cabinet Deck Chair Reshuffle Touted
The cliff-hanger to the next episode of "The Bland and The Boring" is all about Premier Rees' threats to demote a few cabinet ministers for disloyalty. Yes Mr Kelly and Mr Macdonald ought to be pensioned off but then so should most of the cabinet and indeed most of the Labor MPs sitting in NSW Parliament. So gee wow what a difference a new cabinet will make to a bankrupt government, an over-worked and under-resourced public sector, and infrastructure that cannot match community needs (let alone future development)!
The Premier does not seem to understand that public sympathy for him has been washing away in the past few months as he stumbles from crisis to crisis and arbitrarily back-flips on hasty decisions. In fact the public could care less about the internal party bickering and ego-centric ambitions of those desiring the purple mantle.
As Lisa Carty indicates the Super Department plan for public sector reform is a big botched mess. Blind Freddy could have told the Premier that all these decisions about reform and cabinet reshuffle are attempts at cosmetic cover-ups for the immense mess the state is in.
The Premier does not seem to understand that public sympathy for him has been washing away in the past few months as he stumbles from crisis to crisis and arbitrarily back-flips on hasty decisions. In fact the public could care less about the internal party bickering and ego-centric ambitions of those desiring the purple mantle.
As Lisa Carty indicates the Super Department plan for public sector reform is a big botched mess. Blind Freddy could have told the Premier that all these decisions about reform and cabinet reshuffle are attempts at cosmetic cover-ups for the immense mess the state is in.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
NSW Premier Circles the Wagons
Hahahaha! NSW Premier Rees is circling the wagons, so it seems, to fend off any challenges by dissenting MPs to his mantle. Read about the latest episode in the NSW Labor soap-opera "the bland and the boring". Recall Bob Hawke's statement? "If you can't govern your party you can't govern the country." Paraphrased: "if you can't govern your Labor mates, you certainly cannot govern the state of NSW!"
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Ides of March for Premier Rees
Media beat-up or snap-shot of internal Labor party dissent? That maybe a question to pose about claims that Mr Della Bosca has sharpened his political blade for an eventual seizure of power. Yet also waiting in the wings with his blade is Mr Sartor. Labor still seems to think it can win in 2011, and that their primary worry is who will be Premier. The clowns in the party just do not get it: we the public don't care which marionette stars in the Labor comedy hour. The public are ready to ditch Labor. You lot have been in too long, and it is irrelevant what cosmetic efforts are made at appearing to engage in party renewal.
Add to this the burgeoning dissent from the people who are employed in the public sector who are expected to work like indentured labourers in the cotton fields. The state is buggered up so badly, and there's no point blaming the global crisis. This is a grotesque mess created inside NSW by the boys and gals in Governor Macquarie Tower, and seconded by the sycophantic bureaucrats who run their little departmental empires with a gross and exaggerated sense of self-importance.
The current batch of Labor politicians are tuckered out and talentless and dull and boring and irrelevant. The little Napoleonic syndrome that infests the Senior Executive Service likewise shows how tedious heads of departments can become. Change is coming to NSW, and I don't vote Liberal!
Add to this the burgeoning dissent from the people who are employed in the public sector who are expected to work like indentured labourers in the cotton fields. The state is buggered up so badly, and there's no point blaming the global crisis. This is a grotesque mess created inside NSW by the boys and gals in Governor Macquarie Tower, and seconded by the sycophantic bureaucrats who run their little departmental empires with a gross and exaggerated sense of self-importance.
The current batch of Labor politicians are tuckered out and talentless and dull and boring and irrelevant. The little Napoleonic syndrome that infests the Senior Executive Service likewise shows how tedious heads of departments can become. Change is coming to NSW, and I don't vote Liberal!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Poly-Filler Pasting Over NSW Govt Cracks
The pounding hooves of the horses of doom are approaching as Premier Rees is shown yet again to be a marionette. He faces:
1). The plots of John Della Bosca eyeing off the purple mantle of the Premier's job, and of course there are the usual media denials from Della Bosca (which is the script challengers recite when planning the Ides of March).
2). The stalemate over regaining the support of The Shooters Party in the Legislative Council which was caused by the determined and stubborn lobbying activities of the NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos and Mr Laurie Glanfield the Director General of the Attorney General's Department in June 2009 in pushing through - come hell or highwater - the NSW Trustee and Guardian Bill. The Government did a deal with The Greens on that Bill, and in return Labor dudded The Shooters Party's bill about shooting in national parks. This has led to stalemate over the sale of NSW Lotteries (so essential so the Treasurer Eric Roozendaal claims to making the budget work).
3). The revolt of 8 Labor MPs over the privatisation of prisons.
4). The rearranging of deck chairs to dampen down dissent from Rural Fire Services over the Super Department scheme.
Full steam ahead as we hit the iceberg!
1). The plots of John Della Bosca eyeing off the purple mantle of the Premier's job, and of course there are the usual media denials from Della Bosca (which is the script challengers recite when planning the Ides of March).
2). The stalemate over regaining the support of The Shooters Party in the Legislative Council which was caused by the determined and stubborn lobbying activities of the NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos and Mr Laurie Glanfield the Director General of the Attorney General's Department in June 2009 in pushing through - come hell or highwater - the NSW Trustee and Guardian Bill. The Government did a deal with The Greens on that Bill, and in return Labor dudded The Shooters Party's bill about shooting in national parks. This has led to stalemate over the sale of NSW Lotteries (so essential so the Treasurer Eric Roozendaal claims to making the budget work).
3). The revolt of 8 Labor MPs over the privatisation of prisons.
4). The rearranging of deck chairs to dampen down dissent from Rural Fire Services over the Super Department scheme.
Full steam ahead as we hit the iceberg!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
NSW Public Sector Reforms (Shipwrecked Again)
It's reassuring to know that we are receiving better value and better services under the Super Department scheme. Oh, what's that you say? You mean there are state government ministers squabbling over who has which department reporting?
Alexandra Smith dishes up the latest episode of the government soap-opera "the bland and the boring".
Alexandra Smith dishes up the latest episode of the government soap-opera "the bland and the boring".
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Super Department Inferno
The NSW Labor Government continues to have excellent form as it lurches from one ridiculous proposal and crisis and onto the next proposal/crisis.
The pixels had barely settled on John Lee's electronic announcement assuring better service and value via 13 Super Departments than the wheels began falling off.
This plan to amalgamate is touted as a huge reform in the public sector. All it really is something akin to a Cecil De Mille epic scene of a grand disaster: simultaneously rearranging deck chairs on many sinking ships.
One more sign of serious dissent comes from the Rural Fire Service's revolt at being merged after seeking reassurances that they would be left untouched. The Sun Herald's Lisa Carty indicates that Phil Koperberg has fired a shot across Nathan Rees' bow, and that three other ministers are disgruntled at the lack of consultation over this "super-reform": Paul Lynch, David Borger, and Graham West. Read Lisa's article (here).
The restructure simply creates more red-tape, increases a top-heavy bureaucracy, and contrary to all rhetoric does not release employees from tedious and irrelevant tasks to serve the public.
The Government and its minders are beholden to a scavanger culture of advisors who speak the dialect of management-speak, and spawn spin doctor propaganda. This is truly a clueless government, and its senior executive service corps is riddled with sycophants and power-hungry self-serving political creatures.
The pixels had barely settled on John Lee's electronic announcement assuring better service and value via 13 Super Departments than the wheels began falling off.
This plan to amalgamate is touted as a huge reform in the public sector. All it really is something akin to a Cecil De Mille epic scene of a grand disaster: simultaneously rearranging deck chairs on many sinking ships.
One more sign of serious dissent comes from the Rural Fire Service's revolt at being merged after seeking reassurances that they would be left untouched. The Sun Herald's Lisa Carty indicates that Phil Koperberg has fired a shot across Nathan Rees' bow, and that three other ministers are disgruntled at the lack of consultation over this "super-reform": Paul Lynch, David Borger, and Graham West. Read Lisa's article (here).
The restructure simply creates more red-tape, increases a top-heavy bureaucracy, and contrary to all rhetoric does not release employees from tedious and irrelevant tasks to serve the public.
The Government and its minders are beholden to a scavanger culture of advisors who speak the dialect of management-speak, and spawn spin doctor propaganda. This is truly a clueless government, and its senior executive service corps is riddled with sycophants and power-hungry self-serving political creatures.
Friday, July 31, 2009
NSW Better Service and Value!
Eleven years ago The Onion reported that a new tenth circle of hell had been opened in the nether regions. The new level was to be known as the circle of total bastards and caters for many different people including demographers and advertising executives.
That seems like a place where tom-foolery deserves perpetual punishment. In fact, it would be sweet justice for the people of NSW if they could simply send the current NSW Labor Government to this circle of total bastards. They should be joined by several of the grand pooh-bars who have scrambled to the top of bureaucracy in the public sector.
On 27 July 2009 the brave new world was announced:
NSW Government Agency Amalgamation Administrative Order (read it)
The 13 super departments with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary governments will improve "services to the people of NSW by ensuring a greater client focus, delivering integrated services and reducing internal red tape and barriers between agencies. Resources that are freed up by the reforms will be directed to frontline services."
Gee that is breath-taking!
But wait there's more:
"The Directors General, who have met each week as the new Directors General Executive Committee (DGEC), will continue to meet on a regular basis to drive the practical implementation of these reforms and ensure the Government's commitments are delivered. DPC [i.e. Department of Premier and Cabinet] and Treasury will be liasing directly with Departments on staffing, financial, legal and other governance issues ... The Better Service and Value Taskforce and the Cabinet Standing Committee on Service Delivery will oversight [sic] the achievement of service delivery outcomes and ensure corporate efficiencies are optimised."
Wow! I am so relieved to know that the Cabinet Standing Committee on Service Delivery will oversight -- could somebody please assist John Lee the Director General of DPC in learning some basic English grammar? Either that committee "will have oversight" or it "will oversee".
After all we would like our bureaucrats to optimise the efficiencies of the English language (assuming they are semi-literate) in making such announcements.
How reassuring to know we have 13 Super Departments. I can sleep better at night now. I wonder if the Super-Departments have come to NSW from the planet Krypton to save us!
That seems like a place where tom-foolery deserves perpetual punishment. In fact, it would be sweet justice for the people of NSW if they could simply send the current NSW Labor Government to this circle of total bastards. They should be joined by several of the grand pooh-bars who have scrambled to the top of bureaucracy in the public sector.
On 27 July 2009 the brave new world was announced:
NSW Government Agency Amalgamation Administrative Order (read it)
The 13 super departments with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary governments will improve "services to the people of NSW by ensuring a greater client focus, delivering integrated services and reducing internal red tape and barriers between agencies. Resources that are freed up by the reforms will be directed to frontline services."
Gee that is breath-taking!
But wait there's more:
"The Directors General, who have met each week as the new Directors General Executive Committee (DGEC), will continue to meet on a regular basis to drive the practical implementation of these reforms and ensure the Government's commitments are delivered. DPC [i.e. Department of Premier and Cabinet] and Treasury will be liasing directly with Departments on staffing, financial, legal and other governance issues ... The Better Service and Value Taskforce and the Cabinet Standing Committee on Service Delivery will oversight [sic] the achievement of service delivery outcomes and ensure corporate efficiencies are optimised."
Wow! I am so relieved to know that the Cabinet Standing Committee on Service Delivery will oversight -- could somebody please assist John Lee the Director General of DPC in learning some basic English grammar? Either that committee "will have oversight" or it "will oversee".
After all we would like our bureaucrats to optimise the efficiencies of the English language (assuming they are semi-literate) in making such announcements.
How reassuring to know we have 13 Super Departments. I can sleep better at night now. I wonder if the Super-Departments have come to NSW from the planet Krypton to save us!
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