Democracy, Government and Public Service in Australia New South Wales 2010, The Political Constituents and Bureaucrats That Decided Not To Be Servants of the People The Australian Labor Party (NSW) and labor Government - An Empty Vessel of Self Interest, Corruption and Corrosion

Click to go to Kevin R Beck Commentary and Articles

Kevin Rudd's Australia

Victoria

Queensland

Climate Change

"We'd all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate." (Kin Hubbard, US comedian)

It is IMPORTANT that you realise that every portal page is jampacked with content that automatically updates, and uses scripting. So turn your active content on or you won't see all of the sites' extensive content. This is a proactive web site which canvasses current and future events. A number of selected public policy and interest issues, predictions and topics are published here, and distributed to members of Australia's parliaments, governments, bureaucracies, business , institutions, media, enterprises and communities as well as individuals in Australia and internationally. This often happens before they become mainstream political issues, debates and actions, and before they are covered extensively by media or discerned by advisers. This is particularly clear when one reads the chronology in the predictions predictions sites. This site is linked to the Mosaic Portal network and also utilises RSS feed to distribute material. The commentary, analysis and articles, unless otherwise stated, are authored by Kevin. R Beck to foster awareness, debate and education in the public interest. However governmments, politics, community and business have become the domain of narrow vested interests and individuals, not within these power collectives, are marginalised. The public benefit is not served by any government and political party in Australia nor by the bureaucracy at this time. We can only persist in the face of ridicule, ignorance and direct hostility.

PREDICTIONS FOR POLITICS AND OTHER EVENTS A VOICE MONITORING, AND REFLECTING, SECTIONS OF AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC OPINION Australia's politicians, political advisers, senior public servants, members of corporate boards and managers of businesses might consider the commentary. Australia's most valuable, and laudable, public servants are unknown. They are not the self important, smug and aloof senior officers (Senior Executive Service) of the state and federal public services. They are not to be found in the ranks of political advisers, those are the parasites existing on the public service. They are the public servnats who can be seen now in Victoria and in otyher places where fire ravages communities. The greatest public servant is not really a public servant, they are the people who risk their life to save others and to save our communities. They are not Ministers and not Premiers, not Prime Ministers. They are far more valuable. They are the Australian dragon terrorist fighters. HOW CAN WE TAKE AUSTRALIA'S DEMOCRACY SERIOUSLY? The Failure of Government and Bureaucracy in New South Wales Extracts from reports of the NSW Ombudsman "The Department of Community Services (DoCS) is charged with promoting the safety and welfare of the most vulnerable members of the community — children. The DoCS annual report highlights its core work as including: protecting children and young people from risk of harm; helping families protect and care for their children; providing care and support for children who cannot live with their families; supporting homeless children; and regulating adoption services. I have become increasingly concerned about a number of issues facing DoCS that are impacting on its core work. In my annual report to Parliament last year I flagged that my office had identified a number of systemic issues of concern from the complaints received. Those concerns are now reflected in significant and extensive investigations and other inquiries my officers are conducting into DoCS. This scrutiny is unprecedented, touching almost every area of DoCS operations. My officers are examining: DoCS failing to properly investigate allegations of employees abusing children, DoCS response to increased reports of child abuse, DoCS implementation of recommendations, arising from investigations into child deaths, to reduce risk to children, DoCS failing to transfer information between offices concerning children at risk when families move, the recruitment and training of foster carers by DoCS, including preventing abuse of children in foster care, DoCS failing to notify my office about allegations concerning DoCS employees abusing children, so that its investigations can be properly scrutinised, decisions by DoCS about intervening in Family Court proceedings to protect children at risk of harm, and DoCS procedures for responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. The totality of the information to date places a cloud over the effectiveness of DoCS to provide comprehensive protection to children and young people. The law governing how the Ombudsman works prevents my office from making our investigations and findings public except by way of annual reports and reports to Parliament. The totality of the information to date places a cloud over the effectiveness of DoCS to provide comprehensive protection to children and young people. The law governing how the Ombudsman works prevents my office from making our investigations and findings public except by way of annual reports and reports to Parliament. DoCS is the lead agency in protecting children and young people. The community rightly expects it to perform core work to a very high standard. It is not enough that DoCS officers are committed and well-intentioned. Without the right systems, records and support, appropriate child protection interventions become as much a matter of good luck as good management. This report demonstrates the clear link between poor internal processes and ineffective DoCS interventions on the ground." (source: DOCS: CRITICAL ISSUES Concerns arising from investigations into the Department of Community Services A special report to Parliament under s 31 of the Ombudsman Act 1974 April 2002) FAST FORWARD TO 2009, WHAT HAS CHANGED? "Debate resumed from 1 April 2009. The Hon. MARIE FICARRA [11.14 a.m.]: All members agree that it is so important that our society ensures the protection of children and the vulnerable. For too long, the soft pleas of the vulnerable have gone unheard. Children have been abused and neglected and their cries for help ignored by this Labor Government. Professionals and non-government organisations have stated the obvious: reform of child protection is needed. However, it has taken a very long time for some type of substantive action to take place. In 1997 the Wood royal commission exposed many tragic stories regarding the care and protection of children and young people in this State. It should concern us, as legislators, very much to think that 10 years later the Parliament is still learning of horrific stories involving children and young people, and it should make us determined to act decisively. Let us cast our minds in sympathy to those whom the system failed. Seven-year-old Shelley Ward was allowed to starve to death although her family had been the subject of notifications to the Department of Community Services over a 14-year period. Toddler Dean Shillingsworth was found in a suitcase. A 10-month-old baby, Missy, was beaten senseless after having been on the Department of Community Services' radar by virtue of at least four reports. Another toddler, three-year-old Emily, was the victim of a brutal bashing by her mother's boyfriend and died a painful death. On 18 December 2002, some five years after the royal commission, which exposed varying acts of abuse against children and young people, the New South Wales Labor Government announced a $1.2 billion plan to protect the most vulnerable. Clearly, this plan alone has not worked. Between 1 December 2002 and 20 December 2003, the New South Wales Ombudsman, Mr Bruce Barbour, reported there were 121 deaths of children known to the Department of Community Services. This amounts to a death rate of 9.31 children a month. In 2003 a three-year-old boy died after being violently sexually abused at the hands of two paedophiles, despite seven notifications to the Department of Community Services. The department was notified repeatedly of concerns. However, this poor child was found dead, having suffered severe injuries, with one of his attackers attempting to revive him using electrical wires. That is horrific—even worse, it was avoidable. I put all those deaths on record because they must never be forgotten. Sadly, 2004 saw a further 96 children die. In 2005, 109 children died. In 2006 the number of deaths increased further to 114. What is most startling is that the New South Wales Ombudsman's 2007 report exposed that the Department of Community Services knew one in six of these children. The Ombudsman said: Approximately half of the children that were the subject of reports to DOCS identified in the report at the time of death had had their files closed. It is absolutely beyond belief that although the department knew that these children were at risk of harm their files had been closed. Back then, Mr Barbour rightly stated: We see too many files closed, too many cases not attended to in circumstances where they should be. So the alarm bells were ringing loud and clear, but did this Labor Government hear them? No." (Extract from NSW parliamentary debate: CHILDREN LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (WOOD INQUIRY RECOMMENDATIONS) BILL 2009: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20090402011) Extract: "DoCS failed to protect body-in-suitcase boy Murdered: Dean Shillingsworth. (News Limited) Related Story: Body-in-suitcase mother jailed An ombudsman's investigation into the murder of Sydney toddler Dean Shillingsworth has found the Department of Community Services (DoCS) failed to protect him, even though it had been warned he was at risk. The two-year-old's body was found stuffed in a suitcase floating on a lake in Ambarvale in Sydney's south west in 2007. Yesterday his mother Rachel Pfitzner was sentenced to at least 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to his murder. The court heard that she loathed her son and killed him on the day she was meant to return him to his grandparents and guardians. In his report into the boy's death the Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, found that DoCS had received 34 reports that the toddler and his siblings were at risk of harm, but had failed to comprehensively assess them." (Source: ABC News,http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/10/2767308.htm) The Labor Government of NSW is consumed with self interest rather than government of the people, by the people, for the people. In NSW it is use government for the promotion of political party interests regardless of cost and outcomes. On the one side critics say: "NSW economy is the worst By Lillian Saleh and Jenny Dillon From: The Daily Telegraph January 11, 2010 12:00am ... (however what does the government say?) ....The Government denied that the economy was as bad as indicated. "The NSW economy has grown to more than $382 billion, leading the states and accounting for almost one-third of the national economy," said acting Treasurer John Hatzistergos. "NSW is the engine room of the Australian economy."(Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/money/money-matters/nsw-economy-is-the-worst/story-fn300aev-1225817873593) And yet again: "Failed state NSW, John Birmingham, The Monthly 11 December 2009This essay explores the endemic problems that plague New South Wales, to its economic, commercial and political detriment. “The end of the boom was less a sudden bursting of an asset bubble than a long period of gradual but relentless entropy to the point where, in January of this year, Access Economics identified New South Wales as having the worst state economy in the country; a wooden spoon traditionally presented to Tasmania or South Australia. It wasn’t all bad, though. In July the finance boffins predicted the situation would soon stabilise because … ‘The state simply won’t get any worse, it’s fallen so far. When you are already in the gutter it is hard to fall much further.’” In “Failed State”, John Birmingham insightfully explores the endemic problems that plague New South Wales, to its economic, commercial and political detriment. Birmingham charts the state’s descent into recession, while also discussing its widespread institutional corruption; with so many self-serving interests in play, there is very little room left for those that would attempt to rectify the situation." (source: Australian policy On Line: http://www.apo.org.au/research/failed-state-nsw, PUBLICATION TYPE Article PUBLISHER TYPE APO Member, Journal COVERAGE Australia, New South Wales PERMANENT URL http://www.apo.org.au/node/19964) The state of NSW is the largest in the Australian nation with a multi billion dollar budget. Imagine a board of a company appointing a CEO to run a billion dollar corporation with tens of millions of customers, tens of tousands of employees and assets in the billions with these qualifications. "Premier of New South wales, Kristina Keneally MP, Like 40% of the people who live in the electorate of Heffron, Kristina Keneally was born overseas. She is married to Ben Keneally and has two sons, Daniel (11 years old) and Brendan (9 years old). She lives in Pagewood in Sydney’s inner south. The child of an Australian mother and an American father, Kristina was born on 19 December 1968 and grew up in the United States. She moved to Sydney in 1994, and married Ben in 1996. Kristina became an Australian citizen in 2000. Kristina studied at the University of Dayton in Ohio. She holds a BA in Political Science (Hons) and an MA in Religious Studies. Kristina has also worked as the NSW Youth Coordinator for the Society of St Vincent de Paul and taught in a ‘teacher shortage area’ in rural New Mexico. Prior to her election to NSW Parliament, Kristina was a full time mum to her sons. Like many other mothers, she now enjoys the challenge of balancing work and family life. Kristina was elected to Parliament on 22 March 2003." (Source: http://www.nswalp.com/labor-people/5/71/kristina-keneally-mp) ms Keneally was not appointed (elected ) by the millions of voters, but by a handful of labor politicians. (Kevin R Beck) January 2010: The public servants in NSW are delusional and have fogotten teir place as servants. Read this tripe from a senior police officer, in NSW, who thinks because aa minority in the community give him a bad day the whole community should suffer. "Make Australia Day a light beer day: police, Posted Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:33am AEDT, Updated Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:52am AEDT Police want to stop the problems associated with alcohol on Australia Day. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin) "A senior policeman with the New South Wales Alcohol and Licensing Branch has called on bottle shops and pubs to restrict sales of full-strength alcohol on Australia Day. Chief Inspector Guy Haberley sent an email to licensees in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong earlier this week. One of the measures he proposed was that they not sell any drink with an alcohol content higher than 4 per cent before 2pm on January 26. He also asked for no pre-mixed drinks over 5 per cent to be sold after 9pm; no shots or doubles; a limit of two drinks per person after 9pm and for food and water to be provided. Chief Inspector Haberley says he made the suggestions after a jump in alcohol-fuelled violence on the public holiday last year." (Source:ABC Australia, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/14/2791932.htm) " POLICE DECIDE AUSTRALIA DAY BAN NOW VOLUNTARY AND WILL NOT BE ENFORCED Police have responded to industry concerns regarding the request to limit the sale of alcohol on Australia Day to drinks less than four per cent, by agreeing not to enforce the limit and allowing it to be voluntary. Liquor Stores Association (LSA) of NSW CEO Terry Mott told TheShout.com.au this afternoon that LSA NSW and other industry associations have been actively working with government to modify their request. “We are committed to work together with Police and the Offices of Liquor, Gaming & Racing (OLGR) to formulate a resolution. They have responded by saying this is a voluntary request and it will not be enforced,” Mott told TheShout.com.au. Chief Inspector Guy Haberley this week emailed liquor accords across New South Wales asking licensees not to sell drinks with an alcohol content of more than four per cent before 2pm along with a range of other measures. The request has led industry bodies like LSA of NSW to seek clarification on this issue from the OLGR and the NSW Police Minister. The government has indicated this does not reflect policy and police have issued follow-up advice confirming this is not a regulatory requirement – and will not be enforced." (Source: The Shout, http://theshout.com.au/2010/01/15/article/Police-decide-Australia-Day-ban-now-voluntary-and-will-not-be-enforced/AYNEXZPEXV) September 2009 (Kevin R Beck): Premier (Red Hot Go) Rees might like to demonstrate that he is a real leader and in charge of government by cleaning up the NSW public service and installing senior public servants and middle managers who are both competent and engaged in developing and delivering services. Unfortunatley "red Hot" will not be around long enough to do it. He will be on his political bike in the last few months of 2009. labor (NSW) will pick another puppet to do their bidding. There is not one government agency that does not need cleaning out in NSW but the Ministers, held captive by unions and factions refuse to carry out their public duty. The Premier wants to bring John Robertson, a union leader, into the Ministry. Mr. Robertson is one of the many barriers to efficiency, performance and growth who have brought the state to its economic and socia knees during the past twelve or more years. ohn Robertson is the face of a corrosove self interested group who have fed from the trough of others (union membrs and now the public pariamentary purse) without every adding value or benefit. Nathan Rees, has in his first few months as Premier, demonstrated that he has no mettle, nor the intellectual capacity to clean the labor party and public service rubbish tips. The parliamentarians in this state are moribund in their roles, and performance, and parasites on the pulic purse. What NSW nees is a new voice, and leader, for the people. This person is not in the labor government and does not sit in the NSW parliament. Governments come and go and the public service reamins. That, in itself, is also a problem in NSW. However reality will bite in 2009 - 2010. The government has to quickly do something about the stifling barreirs and blockages created by the bureaucracy, the over zealous and stifling regulation and the rampant desire to manage life, society and economy without accountability and without responsibility. This goes also for their political masters. The intransient indifference of the bureaucracy and the power brokers in NSW, can be seen every day in the transport (rail) and ferry services. An arcahic self indulgent framework serving vested interests and a bloated management and empoloyee structure. Such enterprises breed inefficiency and corruption. Labor's manipulation of local government, and its endemic corrupt manipulation for benefit, has been put under the spotlight in Wollongong. There largesse, money and sex were, and are, the primary tools of exchange for decisiion making and patronage. Despite every attempt to ensure such things do not reach the centres of power, corrosion and corruption goes all the way up, down and across. This government, its Ministers and Premier, have scuttled away from that reality. There is nothing of credit for this government. The people of NSW just have to watch it take its last gasps whilst swimming in a cesspool of its own creation and maintenance. January 18, 2009: Federal parliamentarian Joe Hockey would be a good Premier for NSW in 2011 As specualtion is rife regarding the longevity of NSW labor premier Nathan Rees, demonstrating that he has enemies within the parliament and unions (what a surprise) attention turns to who might be the heir apparent to save NSW from total degradation and corrosion. Frank Sartor? John Della? Both do not politically inspire confidence and leadership potential in the public interest. The vivacious female members, for example, Carmel Tebbutt? Or maybe Christina Kenneally? Trouble is that these members of the parliament are members of labor and owe their place to the party machine. They are tarred with the labor brush and as such are in the collective. There are good members of the parliament but they are silent and that raises questions about their moral compass, ethics and beliefs in what the role of a parliamentarian should be. The good members should speak out or resign. The more who resign the greater pressure on the premier to call an election. Who has the character in the NSW labor party to trigger such a public benefit as an election now or soon? One might think that the NSW opposition might have a credible contender? Sadly not for the voters. The NSW liberal party leader at this time, Barry O'Farrell, has demonstrated no capacity to bring the NSW labor party to accountability. He has lost the confidence of the party hierarchy at the federal level, the bulk of the community and business, in NSW, through his stupid response and backdown on the sale of electricity assets. He has no plan to shame. embarrass and harrass the crooked and corrupt controllers of NSW. he has no plan to make the moribund and somewhat incompetent public service accountable and responsive. He has no charisma and no preseence to command respect and perhaps fear as a person. Where are the liberal contenders? Now there is a vacuum. Joe Hockey, former senior Minister in the federal parliament under John Howard holds the federal seat of North Sydney. he has become the defacto speaker for the liberals. A practiced and accoplished politician he hs the experience and the stamina to drag NSW out of the moribund state it is in. He too can clean out the bureaucracy. I have had a significant amount of interaction with a number of his prtfolios, and whilst not being a fan of the Howard government I can see the merit of Mr. Hockey moving from the federal parliament to the state. he is not beholden to unions, political apparatchiks or self serviing interests and is, unlike the cuurent crop of parliamentarians and bureaucrats, he is honest and hard working. The people of NSW can do far worse than embracing the change for Mr. Hockey. They might be collectvely stupid enough to maintain the current make up and power collectives. The federal labor government, of Kevin Rudd, would also benefit if Joe Hockey became the Premier of NSW. It would be less costly to the labor federal government and the state would be an asset and not a burden. The labor brand might not suffer the damage it has and will, in spades in 2009 and 2010, if the NSW labor governnment is removed by an act of altrusim of the good labor members. The NSW Constitution needs to be altered so that the people can throw governments, and members, out of power, and office, when needed. The labor government of NSW has been in power for eleven years as at 2008 and has about the three years to go. It is probably the worst government in Australia. One of the labor government Ministers has been put in jail for molesting children (2008), a Minister has been sacked for harassing, restraining and berating, a women (2008). There is some conjecture that he may be innocent. Another did a lap dance at a party and Water Minister Phil Costa, storms into a private construction site like Rambo followed by trade union offiials. He looks like a cast member of the Australian television drama "Underbelly". This is a government that has had, and may still have, in its ranks criminals, thugs and unremarkably unqualified members of parliament. It is a government, and political party, devoid of ethics and morality. Collectively it has no moral compass. A group of warring tribes seeking self interest at every turn. It served by a public service with no soul and no apparent moral leadershiop. It sits silent following the golden rule. Serve the government without question and at any cost. The liberal, and national, opposition parties do not offer any alternative. It is a craven regime refusing to make hard decisions, supporting its own power bases and hanging around for alternative turns at the trough. The labor Premier Nathan Rees, and Treasurer Eric Roozendaal, are novices. They are brand spanking new, as at November 2008, and have just handed down a mini budget. The governmet wants tos ell a few piddling assets like lotteries to get some money in. The whole focus of the Treasurer is to protect the states AAA rating. Who gave them the rating? The same agency that rated sub prime mortgages as great value. The Premier in his own words is "having a red hot go". The government is introducing a congestion tax for drivers in the city going across the Harbour Bridge, raised taxes on what they consider to be rich property developers and owners. They have placed a parking tax on private CBD spots of $2,000 placing them in the top five countries that do this. They have increased coal taxes per tonne. This impost is placed on an industry that struggles under their dead hand and that of the bureaucracy, to meet export orders. They take the money yet have not invested in the government owned ports that are neede for export. Victoria can build a state oif tha art multi lane multi million dollar freeway in eighteeen months. It has taken NSW a decade to fail to complete a 100 Km section of the Hume Highway to make it dual carriage, just over the border in NSW from Victoria. The hospitals and schools are run down, and the overall management of the state is hardly worth contemplating. Doing business in NSW is both fruaght with ethical, and risk, issues. The cancer is in government and the bureaucracy. There are no bright lights on the horizon. Mr Roozendaal is claiming that his hands are tied by "these unprecedented times". This is rubbish. These are myopic small beer actions by a Premier and cabinet that is devopid of talent, ideas and an understanding of the proposition that the way it was is no more. The Treasurer rabbits on about protecting the state's AAA rating as if the world financial system is functioning according to the past. The rating agencies are no longer credible yet they still put out their analysis as if they are. The AAA rating from them is worthless since there is no credit flowing against which to borrow. The Premier Nathan Rees and Treasurer Eric Roozendaal are going to drive NSW into recession. As Kevin Rudd struggles to revive Australia's economy and avoid recession, Australia's most incompetent government, Ministries and public services are about to take us all there.

The state of NSW is decrepit. Its agencies are anachronistic engaging in out dated and costly exercises both in management and their dealings with the public and with business. Doing business with the NSW government and the public service departments potentially carries with it higher costs, and risks, than in other states. It languishes in economic arrest, under the dead hand of a labor government that is mired in its own interests and internal warfare. It is a corruption of democracy, and goverment, in the widest sense. It is state ruled by a handful of people whose purpose and role is not the public interest but in maintaining power. The Premier Morris Iemma, and several of his Ministers, are in for a very rude shock. The people of NSW will be treated to a spectacle. It will be unedifying. Read all about it here.

CONTEMPT FOR GOVERNANCE STANDARDS, PARLIAMENTS AND PUBLIC PROCESSES The media around Australia engages in futile drivel. They waste money and time on surveys as to who is the preferred in government/s, and opposition/s, at any point in time. This is really an annoying, and debilitating, it is a lot of crap to fill space and engineer worthless angst. They should grow up for the media, are, collectively, a blight on Australia's democracy. The media, and their owners, are culpable in contributing to the low value of Australia's governments' performance and the irrationality of politicians. The political journalists, and commentators, pursue irrelevant drivel. When you look at the quality of commercial television, radio and print, in general but particularly in relation to analysis of governments and politics you can see a marked decline in the intellectual, and enquiring, capacity of journalism, in Australia. It is not hard to realise that there is decay, in many influential sectors of the power collective, on a wide scale. Ethics and morality takes a back seat against the individual objective. The political parties (labor and liberal) and the selfish within them crave power at all costs. Even to the point of destroying the very esssence of public duty and honour. The code of conduct and the oath they take is vacuous. The NSW government demonstrates the overall proposition that democracy, across the nation, has been pirated by a parasitic public relations and communicatoons industry. They are prepared to lie and misinform and spin in order to win their obejective. This industry sector has convinced the gullible, low grade politicians that this is how modern politics is. Parliaments are a side show to political and corporate power interests. Two journalists from the Nine Network were hired. These two are yet more imposts on the public purse adding absolutely no value. It is thus that the politicians belief that telling lies and massaging messages is how good government and retentionof power is achived. These two new recruits proved their incompetence with email leaks. One of them is having a relationship with a state Minister. What does that say about Morris Iemma's contempt for governance? Or is it that he is a puppet dancing to someone else's overtures? A reshuffle of the NSW cabinet is on hold because the Premier is waiting for the public prsoecutor to decide if he will charge a Minister, John della Bosca, with an offence. della Bosca and his wife are both in parliament and should not be there for they add very little, probably no, value for the vast cost. Why John Bella Bosca is not in his bike, plus wife along with the likes of Reba Meagher is actually a window to the scurge of the NSW labor party. NSW government, is all about the selfish interests of a small group of self absorbed people. They are in parliament, in the unions and in the branches of the labor party. They, like the liberal party, are willing to gamble with and use the tens of billions of dollars of public monies at their disposal. They are ably supported in their mendacity and greed for power and position by a decrepit, and bloated, senior publioc service cabal. Premier Morris Iemma wants to privatise the electricity system, partially or whatever. The debate regrading this, like every other dabte, is not mature or economically evaluated. The spin merchants, of all sides of politics and the media, put out their garbage through their pet networks to a public that despises both sides of the political junta. Look at the constituency of the NSW parliament and the quality of the senior Ministers and the Opposition. The processes of government in NSW are like reality television. It appeals to a semi literate, self absorbed and under educated, demographic of the modern Australia society. We get what we deserve after all.

NEW SOUTH WALES POLITICS, GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY NSW Government and Administration Demonstrate Unsuitability for Public Office The Premier of NSW, Morris Iemma, permitted the heart of Sydney's life, the Opera House, the Gardens and otehr spaces to be rin fenced for the APEC meeting in September 2007. The Police Minister David Campbell demonstrated his incapacity for true leadership when he, and his Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, entered a world of prediction bordering on fantasy. They continually predicted violence by demonstrators. They wanted violence to justify their extraordinarily dangerous policies and actions. Mr. Scipione appeared before a judge predicting the worst using as justification the G20 in Melbouren and his own experience. Upon this justification civil liberties are diminished. These are overblown, pompous officials who are besotted by their own egotistical perceptions of self, worth and ability. Far from being of value to the people of the state, and the nation, they demonstrate a capacity for sheer ignorance and cowardly obsession. Frightened of the people of the state. John Watkins, the Deputy Premier, very much liked in his electorate, rolls out the government positives pin and justification line. He glosses over the thuggish assault of a German tourist taking pictures, an aged man being tackled and questioned for 22 hours and police parading without name badges. He makes no mention of the ressurgence of the 'specila branch"of police spies seeking out the undeirables in the comunity and tageting activists. He makes no apology for the cost and the over the top reactions, and beliefs, of his and his colleagues policies and actions. Th8is is a thuggish government of mendacious and cuning politicaisn of limited capability, vision and value. They know only ostentatious shows of force. Those who protest are the enemy. These politicians remain in office because the opposition has no effective leader to expose them. They should not be in public office. The Chaser television programme showed the real efficiency, and worth, of the Police Minister, the Police Commissioner and their force. The Chaser travelled merrily through the guard posts in mock outfits and with number plates such as "MUFTI". They made a laughing stock of the Premier, the Minister and the Police Commisioner, who are laughable in any event. Perhaps not laughable, perhaps dangeros to democracy. Morris Iemma is a mediocre political leader within the Australian Labor Party. He has chosen his colleagues with lack of care and judgement. He has joined with an out of touch, and very outdated, Prime Minister. These four should seek to become US citizen and go and work in Guantanamo Bay where they will feel, and be, right at home. NEW SOUTH WALES - QUALITY OF GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION Go to the Institute of Public Administration in NSW Morris Iemma, Bureaucracy and Police Chiefs A Blight on NSW Democracy and Citizen's Rights They Need to be Gone From Rule, and Management, of the State July 2008, and the NSW Government enacts the World Youth Day Bill. " The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL (Minister for Roads, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport) [12.42 a.m.]: I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to incorporate the second reading speech in Hansard. Leave granted. It is my privilege to introduce the World Youth Day Bill. The World Youth Day Bill will establish a statutory corporation, the World Youth Day Co-ordination Authority, to plan, co-ordinate and provide for government services for World Youth Day 2008. World Youth Day is a six-day celebration aimed at young people aged from 16 to 35 years from all around the world. Initiated by His Holiness Pope John Paul 11 in 1984, it has become the largest single international mobilisation of young people in the world." (extract from parliamentary reading of bill) " Importantly, nothing in the legislation will affect the lawful exercise of powers by police, and the authority will not have any powers of direction in respect of police officers and police resources. NSW Police will, of course, be represented on the authority and will play a central role in planning for World Youth Day. The bill will confer on the authority powers to facilitate the conduct of World Youth Day events. These powers are similar to, but not as extensive as, those that were in place during the Olympics. They include provisions to allow for the establishment of special-purpose traffic lanes, to enable the closure of roads and to allow for fast-tracked approval for events at prescribed World Youth Day venues. This bill draws on the models that were used with spectacular success during the Olympics to ensure that government services for World Youth Day will also beand p lanning by relevant government agencies will be imperative for its success. " (ibid) Tens of millions of dollars ($A100M? plus) of taxpayers money has been allocated to this partisan religious event. Taxpayers' $95m bill for World Youth Day, Linda Morris Religious Affairs Reporter, Sydney Morning Herald, November 16, 2007 (Rextract) "AN ELEVENTH-hour compensation deal worth $41 million for the racing industry from taxpayers has given the Catholic Church the green light to stage the World Youth Day Papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse. The State and Federal governments have agreed to provide $15 million each to meet the huge costs of relocating 700 horses, trainers and auxiliary services from Randwick during a planned 10-week shutdown of Sydney's premier racetrack. As well, $10 million - split between the two governments - will be set aside in case of track damage, to ensure it is returned in a pristine state to the Australian Jockey Club for its spring carnival. The compensation deal blows out the projected cost of World Youth Day - which stands at more than $100 million - and guarantees taxpayers will be underwriting the six-day religious event staged by the Catholic Church to the tune of at least $95 million" (end of extract) Special laws have been enacted to give the police special powers of intervention, to fine those who offend the sensibilities of the Catholic Church and the the 125,000 participants. Thou shalt not annoy on Youth Day, JANO GIBSON, LINDA MORRIS AND JOEL GIBSON, 1/07/2008 12:00:01 AM EXTRAORDINARY new powers will allow police to arrest and fine people for "causing annoyance" to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today. The laws, which operate until the end of July, have the potential to make a crime of wearing a T-shirt with a message on it, undertaking a Chaser -style stunt, handing out condoms at protests, riding a skateboard or even playing music, critics say. Police and volunteers from the State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service will be able to direct people to cease engaging in conduct that "causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event". People who fail to comply will be subject to a $5500 fine. The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, SC, described the regulations as "unnecessary and repugnant". ...." Civil libertarians said they had never seen anything like the new powers and believed they are more extreme and broader in scope than those used during last year's APEC summit and the 2000 Sydney Olympics."... The regulations were quietly gazetted by the Deputy Premier, John Watkins, on Friday afternoon and apply to more than 40 city locations, including museums, galleries and cinemas, as well as Darling Harbour, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Randwick Racecourse and parklands. (Source: fairfax Digital, Wingham Chronicle) As indicated above areas of Sydney normally open to the public generally have been designated areas. The Randwick race complex has been commandeered by the government and thsoe who earn their livelihood or who enjoy racing are classed secondary to the religious fanaticism of the despotic Catholic Church and its myopic clergy. religion has been rammed into the state of NSW. Like the visit of George Bush, President, to Sydney earlier this year, the police state of Premier Morris Iemma has over reacted with draconian zeal. It has demonstrated its credentials as an out of touch autoicratic government with senior public servants who have atrophied and forgotten their roles. Morris Iemma and the NSW labor Party are a blight on NSW and Australian democracy. Extracts from various blogs and media sites point to the divisive nature of church and state in NSW. "Her "live and let live" tolerance presumed that the best we can do is agree to disagree, endure each other's private devotions, and leave well alone. The state must remain neutral with respect to religion and withhold financial upport from anything with a whiff of incense about it. Religious beliefs and practices should be kept out of sight. The problem with this live-and-let-live kind of tolerance is that as soon as the other guy gets in-my-face my 'tolerance' evaporates. So limited is the reservoir of sympathy, respect or gratitude amongst dogmatic secularists that the prospect of a public display of youthful faith evokes antipathy and even contempt." (Bishop Fisher, see extract reference attribute below - Unleashed ABC.net.au) "Getting in my face? You and your Catholic hordes are doing more than just getting in my face. You are closing streets in Sydney, dipping into public purse (my tax money), threatened to cut down trees in a public park, stopping people from going to work during your carnival. And your phrase 'live-and-let-live' was really an absolute cracker for me. Your kind does NOT live and let live with homosexuals like me. If we're still in the Middle Ages the Catholic Church would've organised a friendly Inquisition after the Sunday Mass for the homosexuals." (extract:joshie : 29 Jun 2008 9:07:10pm, Dear Bishop Fisher, 13 June 2008, 16:30, World Youth Day = tolerance, ABC: abc.net.au) "Thou shalt not protest: Skateboards, condoms, t-shirts to attract fines, Edwina Bartholomew, Live News.com.au, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, How many of these politicians making these obscene laws are catholics. Really all catholics in parliament should abstain from voting on these matters. Posted by: Graeme Henderson, Darling Downs Reply Tuesday, 01 July 2008 if our state government hadn't lost the plot before they have now since when has a peaceful protest been against the Law and when was wearing a tee shirt with a protest slogan against the law i suggest we all wear Tee shirts with dithering dilemma is a dickhead and i suggest we ask the pope if he would like to run NSW he would have to do a better job then the dumb arses we have now come to think of it the average corpse would do a better job Posted by: Mick Hooker, Dee Why" (Source of blog extracts: http://www.livenews.com.au/articles/2008/07/01/Thou_shalt_not_protest_Police_to_fine_WYD_demonstrators Youth Day organisers block gay forum, By youth affairs reporter Michael Turtle, Posted Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:28am AEST Updated Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:40pm AEST, Acceptance planned an event to discuss the issues around young Catholics who are gay or lesbian." (Extract source ABC News abc.com.au) The event was stopped. In NSW it is time to make the Premier dance and get rid of him as leader of the party, and for the power brokers of the ' labor party to put the game into play. The Premier and his team are liabilities as are the most senior bureaucrats in charge of agencies. The latter can be dealt with later. Morris Iemma challenges reality when he says 'we run NSW". The state party and who is in charge of the government is run by John Robertson from Unions NSW, Angela D'Amore, Geoff Corrigan, Bernie Riordan, Karl Bitar, Luke Foley, Ntahan Rees, Carmel Tebbutt, Frank Sartor and John watkins among others. A CORRUPTION THAT IS INGRAINED AND DEEP In March 2008 we find that the Woollongong City Council, Wollongong, and surrounding, labor politicians, and party officials, are so corrupt that they are enveloping the Premier and many of his Ministers. According to the newspaper it is a "state of disgrace". A state of disgrace: 01 Mar 2008 | The Australian Financial Review | Alex Mitchell. Alex Mitchell is the former state political editor of The Sun-Herald and former president of the NSW parliamentary press gallery. The citizens of NSW aren't ruled by a government but by a clique... have now reached the top of the greasy pole and are collectively hopelesly mismanaging the state." (end of extract: http://www.afr.com.au) The Independent Commission Against Corruption opens a window on their world. It plays telephone conversation, and witnesses testify as to the depth to which these people will stoop to maintain power and wealth. The situation is not dissimilar to Victoria where the Bracks labor government has been exposed for its seedy dealings with the police union and the refusal of the Premier in that state to create such a Commission. To create a Commission in Victoria would show us just how rotten the labor party is in every arena of government. Though we are unable to judge the federal government of Kevin Rudd just yet. We know that the Australian government under John Howard was decrepit and in many areas incompetent. It too was bent in its relationships with mates and largesses. Not so mkuch corrupt a sputting its own interests above the public benefit. But at least one can do business with the Australian government. Only those of questionable ethics, and morality, will openly do business with the Immea government and the NSW labor party. My mentors, and critics in the business world, will tell me not to be precious and to separate politics from business. They are pragmatists. Many are also cowards and detached from the propositio of being good citzens in the fullest meaning of the concept. They will not challenge governments and Ministers of the Crown. As indicated above the Australian Financial Review ran a two page story on the degradation and incompetence of the government. The article was scathing with almost every major labor party government member captioned. It was not a flattering picture. The Financial Review is not alone in its critique " Labor's rot starts at the top, February 22, 2008, Sydney Morning Herald INCOMPETENCE is one thing, corruption another. There is always the hope, no matter how forlorn, that even the most incompetent government might improve. A corrupt government, however, does not deserve the chance. The disgrace of corruption can't be erased; the government must go. The darkening stain spreading from the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into Wollongong City Council threatens to taint indelibly the Labor Government of NSW. And it has only itself to blame. This is a crisis of Labor's own making, a consequence of a Labor Government too tolerant of the misplaced loyalties of mateship, and too ready to obligate itself to those willing to fill Labor Party coffers." (end of extarct - http://www.smh.com.au) To describe the Iemmea labor government and its Ministers as "incompetent", is to be charitable. The government borders on criminal mismanagement and level of hubris and stupidity that is breathtaking. The people of the state tolerate this and relect these people into public office. Try doing business in NSW if you are not a property developer. Try doing business if you are nbot interested in payking bribes and giving favours. This is among the most arrogant, and detached, labor administration in Australia. The front bench ministry is absorbed by hubris and self importance. They focus totallky on maintaining power. They stack the administration and public service with mates and cronies. The deadwood remains beneath acquiscent and cowed. As can be seen in the media cabinet members are thuggish in disposition and rhetoric. The public service is atrophied and lead by aged incumbents whose value to the public interest has not been demonstrated. This is sad because age should bring wisdom and commitment. They are comfortable and at the leadership of the public service is at the behest of a corrupted government. Kevin Rudd owes much to the NSW labor party. In this he is supsect as to the future. The Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma's style indicates that ethics is not a strong suit. His senior ministers are belligerent and prone to tantrums and ignorant dipslays. It may be their ethic heritage. Iy may be their anger at being treated badly when younger. Who knows what motivates these people other than power and self delsuion as to their capabilities and importance in the day to day lives of people? They are important because they are so inept and waste opportunities. Doing business here is not merely a chore it is too often not worth the resources and the effort. A Minister of his government charged with sex offences has been treated quite differently to others in the community who may face such harrowing circumstance. In the world of politics you are guilty until proven innocent and even then it does not matter. The interests of Iemma and his colleagues and their rampant desire to hold onto government at all cost takes precedence. They corrupt process and democracy every day they sit in parliament. Under Bob Carr the facade of success was very well managed until the day after he resigned. The current government of Morris Iemma, is desperatley trying to distance itself from the era of Australia's most successful state labor politician. He too was a consummate manager of the media and information. This is now the prime reuirement of all labor governments and one could postulate is the prime requirement and objective of all governments no matter what their politicis. So what are the typical management, misrepresentation, lies and propaganda, from the NSW government spin masters of past and present days? Enter "Sydney tunnel fiasco" into Google and see how many references come up. Transport is always a winner in the state and like Queensland, so is health. Some medical prctitioners in this state can do similar damage as those in Queensland. The politicians are loud on the simple issues - tax, crime, tax, crime, muslims, tax, crime, me, me, me, but seem spectacularly unable to handle the more complex problems and issues. They are fainting violets under pressure and crisis. They resort to the public relations strategy. Former Premier Bob Carr got out before the really hard -problems that he had avoided confronting and solving came to the forefront. Now Morris Iemmea his successor is proving perhaps as inadequate and defintely unimaginative. Though it is perhaps inhospitable, and down right rude, not to give him time and limited credit for anything. What comkes to mind for credit? I'll keep investigating and get back to you. Back to the Cross City Tunnel. This gem of public sector thinking and administration, planning and implementation, clearly demonstrates the incompetence of the NSW public service at the senior levels and the paucity of experience and ability of the Labor government members. This latter paucity of value is to be expected given the make up of the Australian Labor Party, the life experiences of its members and their closeted minds. A NSW Parliamentary Committee forced on Labor by the Upper House, was treated shabbily by the Labor dilitants. This is typical of an arrogant born to rule political class that takes democracy for its own personal development and interest. The Committee's Report shows that the government gave away more access roads (to force traffic into the private tunnel) and public money than need as a sop to totally incompetent road consortia and management developers from the private sector. However the immoral and unethical spin servants of the government trot out bald statements that to take action would cost taxpayers lots in penalties. It is not true, but truth is not a commodity Australian governments trade in. The private public arrangement here is not a model any first world government would have created. Then agin in many respects the NSW Labor Party, and government, is not in the modern era. The suffering voters have litttle choice offered under a duopoly system where the oposition is as moribund in talent as the government. Salty Water Being Rubbed In To Self Inflicted Political Wounds Premier Morris Iemma, and the labor party government, seem acident prone. The quality of due diligence and research undertaken by advisers, political and department, appears questionable. The capabilities of the Ministry have been under the spotlight for decades. They cannot deliver a workable quality transport system; people die in NSW hospitals, and on trains, from maladministration. The Ministers still get recycled. Carl Scully is now in charge of trying to solve another debacle, Sydney without adequate water. So the government has hit upon the rivetting, and novel, idea of building a billion dollar (plus, plus, plus) desalination plant. Always a good idea if one is worried about energy consumption and pollution. It is all too much these complex things. Ever the diligent minister, who it seems does not actually have too much research done beforehand he has suddenly hit a rock and the political vehicle is again skidding all over the road. Carl has been informed that one of the tenderers also owns subsidiaries in some of the other tenders. However the spin - doctors have explained the "chinese wall" theory to Carl and he has no problems. Judges in Australia's courts are less inclined to accept the chinese wall theory put up by law firms. But Carl is no judge. It could be the short resume blurb about corporate multinationals that impresses. "Veolia Water Systems is a subsidiary of Veolia Environment and world leader in water treatment. The company has provided delegate management of public utilities for drinking water production and distribution and waste water for 150 years. The KXEN application reflects an intuitive graphical user interface that allows managers to control plant operations and predict the result of water preparation process." Source Regardless he seems unconcerned about chinese walls and the new annoyance. The Acting Auditor General popping up to talk about Veolia Environment's background. A good corporate strategy can often be a name change to cloud history, sever links and create a brand new image. Veolia Environment has a history in Adelade, Australia in the 1990s that is also less than stellar, something about "pong" from sewage when it ran some of the water utilities in South Australia. The NSW labor party has a solid history of walking the fine line on ethical dilemmas presented by its penchant for taking corporate donations. In the public interests one could investigate the nexus between donations and contracts. It is unlikely that high quality and transparent government will be one of Morris Iemmea's strengths. Of more significance might be trying to discern which ventriloquists have their hand up the NSW Premier's back at anyone time. Beyond the Horizon of Awareness Web Site Purpose Iemma Time to dance the Final Waltz Promoting information about, and participation in, the nation's parliaments, bureaucracies and democratic processes. The owner of the Mosaic Portal network accepts all contributions from members of Australia's parliaments, political parties and interest groups or individuals, wishing to communiacte and inform, including updated scripted news headlines and articles. Material will be posted here or on the Distribution Utility at The Mosaic Portal DelphiForum site and will appear in the forum window on this, and other web sites. If you use others' material content attribution must be included as to the original source. Email: kevinrbeck@bigpond.com Beyond the horizon of awareness There are methods to gain interaction, access and attention. Some use lobbyists and others professional associatioon methods. Others simply go direct because of who they are. There are tactics and strategies that can be used. Think laterally when you want to influence or impact the objectives of politicians, political parties, governments and bureaucracies. Members of Australia's parliamenst and their staff very often make the mistake of acting only on correspondence from their local constituents first and foremost. But in this modern world of technology and interwtined interests, this can be a grave error. Political staff, and advisers, rarely if ever see over the horizon. Bureaucrats act similarly They rarely if ever see the matrix. They rarely if ever link disparate correspondence, events, outcomes and people unless it is bleedingly obvious to them. All too often they reply with a general information letter, no substance to speak of and hardly ever address the issue of the correspondence. There is an assumption that the communicator does not know the system or is not aware of how parliament works and what it and the bureaucracy is doing. I would hazard that I have an overall greater knowledge as to what many areas of Australia's parliamensta nd bureaucracy are doing than the people who are charged with the task of responding to my communications. They never seem to read between the lines gleaning the motivation or the objective. What, in the absence of their created intelligence gathering, a set of vehicles, information sourcesa nd strategies, were created to link things - to link their performnace, their objectives and their activities? What if the whole of the Australian government/s were being monitored, assessed and filtered? Is this possible using modern technologies? What if not only governments, and Ministers, were the objects of the technology and utilities but also individual members ofm parlaiensta nd of the bureaucracries? What if the motivation is to compete or create barriers, to actively be a participant in the political arena? Some very senior, and quite outspoken members, of state and federal parliaments once told me if I wanted to play in politics I should join a party and run for parliament. How does one do that when the participation is rigged and the allocation of preselection is by patronage? Then having got there to be back bencher doing as one is told, adding to the corrosion of parliament and democracy. Given that someone turned their attention to this challenging task, and spent the money and the time to do all of the above, what might it look like as a piece of technology and a disparate but interlinked set of utilities and tools.? Governance, Public Policy, Decision Making and the Performance of The Power Collective in Australia NEW SOUTH WALES The material on this web site predominantly comments on decisions, actions and perceived performance politicians and bureaucrats. However there are some overlaps with decision makers and behaviour within the corporate sector. It provides a range of sources to give a broad perspective to the reader, and student, of politics and democracy. Readers interested in corporate behaviour and ethics might like to also look at ethical editorials. You may also be interested in a behind the scenes, over the horizon perspective, of modern activism using the Mosaic Portal Network utilities and other interest groups and individuals. The Kevin R Beck web network Privacy Statement, Uses and Motivation Click here to learn the extent of the Kevin R Beck web network All Kevin R Beck web sites, blogs and forums A deep extended index of subjects and subtopics Go to the world of the Kevin R Beck Mosaic Portal The Kevin R Beck Mosaic Portal on DelphiForums in the USA. Different news, topic focus, broader audience, different demographics and reach