A new word for hypocrite
I’ve seen quite a few articles written recently about the outrage of Tony Abbott’s expense scandal. Van Badham made a good point about weddings, and how f*ck-wit it is to charge your attendance at one to the taxpayer. Mike Carlton wrote eloquently about ‘bludger Abbott’ immorally charging the taxpayer for his election campaign. At first I thought enough had been said on this matter. I thought all bases were covered with various reasons for varying forms of outrage about the scandal. However there is still one thing which I haven’t seen said, which I feel needs to be added to the pile. And this relates to the Liberals, their sense of entitlement and the way that this sense of entitlement clashes quite inconsistently with their rabid resentment of anyone who works in the public sector.
So we all know that public servant bashing is a favourite sport of the Liberals. Every time Liberals talk about job losses with a forlorn look and talk of insecurity for families, I am reminded that they only seem to care about job losses in the private sector. In the public sector, they are the ones slashing jobs. Yet, somehow in their very well crafted rhetoric of ‘government waste’, they manage to get away with painting public sector workers as a different species of Australian worker. Public sector job losses, whether they be in Canberra, or in health, education and community services around the country, don’t really count as job losses. Because, as any Liberal will tell you given half the chance, the public sector is inefficient and over-inflated, and not as good at getting things done as companies who need to make a profit and need to keep their shareholders happy. No matter whether this idea is truth (which it is not), nevertheless, it’s always the first priority of a Liberal government to make sure public sector workers are fired, for no other reason than it must sound efficient to do this. It all relates to the very fuzzy reasoning of Liberals around ‘small government’ and ‘efficiency’ and ‘waste’ and all the fluff they go on and on about all the time.
Remember when Howard got rid of thousands of public servants who he must have thought were just sitting at their desks twiddling their thumbs, in their ‘jobs for life’, playing solitaire and drinking coffee at the taxpayers expense? But then when he realised the people he had fired were actually running the country, he hired more of them, but just as individual contractors, at a huge hourly rate, which ended up costing the taxpayer more than the public sector workers who were fired. Well done Johnny. Keep them off the books and all that. Abbott is doing the same things as Howard – promising to fire 12,000 in Canberra alone, and that’s before his ‘commission of audit’ takes the axe to who knows how many more jobs. Will these Liberals ever learn? And even Abbott’s master, Murdoch got in on the act of public servant bashing in a recent tweet, saying:
“Aust election public sick of public sector workers and phony welfare scroungers sucking life out of economy. Others nations to follow in time.”
So, if Australians really are happy to vote for someone like Abbott who promises to sack the public service, what does the Australian electorate think about his sense of entitlement in racking up thousands of dollars of expenses, and charging them to the taxpayer? Doesn’t this make Abbott the hugest of all hypocrites to ever walk the earth? Do we need a new, stronger word for hypocrite, to explain the ferocity of Abbott’s wankery in using taxpayer funded travel to attend charity events, sporting events and weddings? Saying ‘pot-kettle-black’ just doesn’t seem to cut it. How about we just agree it’s un-Australian. On the one hand, Abbott implies that public sector workers are bludging off the taxpayers and need to be fired, while at the same time using taxpayers money for his own personal entertainment and political ambition. Perhaps Abbott is the one who should be sacked. #OneTermTony.
Public sector workers are hard working Australian people who have families, who pay tax, who don’t get paid as much as they would in the same job in the private sector, who work hard, who join clubs, who raise funds for charity, who buy or rent houses, who buy cars, who shop at Coles and Woolies, who deal with all sorts of stress by never knowing whether a new government is going to fire them, who don’t and never have assumed they have a job for life.
But Tony Abbott is just an arrogant man who needed to improve his public profile, after years of being known as the resident Liberal nut-job, and who needed to be seen with his wife and daughters having fun in the public eye to try to prove he doesn’t hate women, who needed to look like he did charity work, even if he wouldn’t actually do charity work if it cost him a cent personally, who needed to look fit and sporty, if in actual fact he wouldn’t get fit or go to a sporting event without charging it to the taxpayer, for his own personal vested interest of getting a better job as the Prime Minister of Australia. No one can claim that Abbott’s helping their community by riding a bike through it. Even if they live in a marginal seat. Abbott’s only interested in getting his face on the news, for his own benefit. And the news media laps this sort of crap up.
That’s what really infuriates me about Abbott’s expense scandal. He’s firing honest, hard working public servants, to the detriment of the communities they serve (us), while he spends thousands of taxpayer dollars on his self-entitled quest to have himself elected to the position of Prime Minister. While he’s promoting his public image. But while he’s swanning around the country at our expense, and shouting his wife and daughters the lifestyles of a Paris-Hilton-esque socialite at our expense, what work is he actually doing for the community he wants to represent? How has he earned his government funded-salary, let alone the extra costs of his travel and accommodation, when he’s spent his entire time campaigning for himself? Next time Tony Abbott calls the public sector a ‘waste’, can someone please hand him a mirror.
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Return to home pageGood article. This is just exactly how I feel about Tony Abbott. Well put Victoria.
On a slightly different angle, the pic at the top of this post worries me as well.
Well said. Enjoyed reading above article about Hypoabbott!
I live in Canberra. i look at the big picture. Cutting those 12000 jobs wont just affect those 12000 people but to lot of others especially businesses and workers.
all very typical of lnp mentality in pointing the accusing finger at others for doing what they are very skilled at doing – rorting and slander
peter slipper may have a certain reputation for serial offences, but the ultimate scumbag parasite, abbott, leaves him for dead in the rorting stakes
Yes Victoria we do need another word for ‘hypocrite’. It isn’t strong enough to describe LNP behaviour and like ‘sorry’ it’s power has been diminished because of over use. I like the term parasitic charlatan. LNP modus operands is to accuse and ridicule others for the very behaviour they exhibit making them appear holier than thou. We must work together to move them on quickly.
Great post Victoria. The rapacious rorting by the born-to-rulers in the LNP is the ultimate in hypocrisy, exceeded only by the wizened foreigner’s sneering smear wrt public sector workers quoted in your piece.
Also, as Arvie observed, sacking 12,000 public servants is also the ultimate stupidity in a place like Canberra, where almost all other livelihoods are directly linked to public service employment. For every person they sack, three more jobs are directly affected and so it ripples out into the community.
I’ve never been able to fathom out why these idiots think that sacking thousands will not adversely affect 3x+ more people, not to mention their families. Why are they incapable of understanding how devastating unemployment is to the entire community and the economy they claim to care so much about.
Of course, high unemployment doesn’t have an adverse effect on the meg rich and that is where the true LNP constituency lies.
He’s about as believable as a Poly as he is as an author…no wonder he was flogging it on the public purse who would pay for it…
OK, I admit it it, when it comes to snout in trough, self-entitlement, the Libs should give lessons (except they’d overcharge), Labor may have indulged but they are amateurs at this game.
Maybe it should be ‘pot/toasting fork’ black?
Thing is, the longer Labor remains on the defensive, the more they appear compromised.
Pretty much sums it up.
Janne you may want to look up what independent means and turn off the cap locks button to.
Sounds like Janne is having a befuddled dummy spit for no sound reason. However, leaving the sideshow lane, I am glad that you said the obvious, Victoria. Workers, whether private or public, are human, they have families. They are consumers and a vital part of our economy. One term Abbott was and is, a freight train with more than a few broken couplings steaming for a railhead at the bottom of a precipitous grade. I predict a half-term Abbott, or less. Janne has inspired me!
Couldn’t agree more, abbott and his cronies make me sick,, and I hope those that voted the prick in get made sick too.
Tony has said he wants health to be the province of the states because the Commonwealth Health Dept are just bureaucrats who “don’t run any hospitals”. Those apparently redundant bludging public servants who have never emptied a bedpan do however run Medicare and the PBS and NDIS and the Territories health programs amongst many other national initiatives.
Could I also point out that Rob Oakeshott took part in the pollie pedal ride and an ironman event and did not claim expenses. He said it would never have occurred to him to put in an expense claim for such activities. Why is it so hard for them to specify what government business was done and produce actual receipts. Being a spectator at, or competing in, sporting events, attending social functions and having drinks with people, or going somewhere just to be seen are NOT official government business.
Janne are you from Australia? The only person with your name seems to be in the US….maybe you just stole her name and are a liberal troll. Either way you don’t know shit about the public service or Australian politics…it’s Labor and spout not sprout. It sounds like you love to complain seeing as you you went on and on about not being able to.
Oh and by the way the only person on this page who looks like a raving lunatic is you…hypocrisy?
Janne I am a bit of a pedant and I think you mean “spout” instead of “sprout (which is a vegetable) and Mr Abbott is the Prime Minster of only one country therefore you should say “their country’s” not “their countries”. A part from that if more Public Service employees are sacked, retrenched, whatever then the service you require from them will consequently diminish and your frustration will increase and your ranting about lack of service will increase, so it seems to me you are on a hiding to nothing. Oh and I have worked in the Public Service and in the private sector and now find myself under employed because of my age. But unlike your good self I do not seek to blame anyone. I think you have had problems with Centrelink and I will only say you are not the only one in the same bucket. A little bit of patience goes a long way.
Janne.
you have completely missed the point of this article. In case you are still not sure what the point was:
it is that Abbott is a Hypocrite for criticizing the public service, regarding waist fullness, when he himself is making inappropriate expense claims.
or Abbott, if you live in a glass house you should not throw stones.
Well Victoria, that was about the BIGGEST and WORST example of an “Independent Media” report I have EVER had the misfortune to read! “Listen” to yourself, you are a RAVING LUNATIC!!! You SPROUT your mouth off, say NOTHING of any importance at all, except your own very PARTIAL opinions of the Liberals and this countries Prime Minister, who I will REMIND YOU was ELECTED by a MAJORITY OF AUSTRALIANS, and PROVE NOTHING! You are one sad puppy, who I can only assume is in the public sector, or has a bunch of family/friends EMPLOYED BY THE PEOPLE. EVERY TIME without FAIL, the Labour party when in Office, ALWAYS tops up the public Service (note that says “service”). I for one am SICK TO DEATH of trying to contact ANY government office, and actually get a REAL person to talk to. Further, after waiting, often HOURS, when you DO get a REAL person, they have NO IDEA how to help you, and they show GREAT agitation that you had the temerity to interrupt their day! They no longer even give anything other than their supposed Christian name, NO Surnames so you can REPORT their sorry arses for NOT doing their jobs! It USED to be a job for life, and EFF the public, to some it still is, but it is GOOD to know that some of them actually LEARN what it feels like to be in competition for employment! Maybe, just MAYBE, those that DO have those jobs, will DO their damn job properly, instead of thinking, “well SH*T, I got out of bed this morning and came here, what more do you want”! That is NOT enough to earn an income in ANY sector of employment!!
Bob Gosford provides an interesting take on the sponsorships our PM wears so proudly on his Lycra clad frame.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2013/09/13/cheap-at-twice-the-price-the-prime-minister-and-big-pharma/
Victoria, your article *is* opinion but holds many truths for which there is ample evidence. There is no evidence that public servants, civil servants, government officers – or whatever name is right for you – provide a less efficient or more costly service than that of private organisation workers. Indeed, I would suggest that if one were to look at privatisation and its results, it would very readily be apparent that the opposite is true. Not only that, but the critics ignore the significance of ownership (and thus control) of essential services being in the hands of the people and run for the benefit of the community – as opposed to being run for the benefit of private capital owners.
I don’t believe, however, that the Liberals fire public sector workers “for no other reason than it must sound efficient to do this.” I believe that is part of the reason. More importantly, however, has been the stripping away of independence from the public sector through that removal of tenure. Their actions of mass sackings have the much more offensive result of creating a climate of fear in the public sector which severely reduces the likelihood of civil servants standing up to their political masters or offering advice contrary to the poltical preferences of those in power. To me, this is the most insidious aspect of this process as it erodes the very rational of an independent public sector – that of providing independent, non-partisan, rational & intelligent advice to the government of the day.
Janne, convention suggests that it is rude to “shout” on line, ie. to constantly capitalise. I can assure you that, at the very least, it will win you no friends. I can understand your annoyance at those continual posts which do little more than hurl rocks, however descending to their level is not, I think, an appropriate retort. It is particularly inappropriate when – although the rock throwing is somewhat pathetic – the reasons for it are valid. In the case of the LNP and of Tony Abbott, this is not even seriously questionable.
What is needed if we are to advance this nation is for the independent media to become exactly that. It must welcome – perhaps even solicit, contributions from all political viewpoints and report them honestly and disinterestedly. Neither left wing stone throwing nor right wing snidy sniping are productive. The negation of legitimacy of the Greens by both major parties is an insulting and irrational folly.
This government did not receive a mandate, Janne – and most Australian governments do not. One of the first issues that this government (or any other until it is accomplished) should do is to review and revise our electoral system so that parliamentary seats are truly representative of the proportions of views in the country which support them.
Australians were not, I think, “really are happy to vote for someone like Abbott who promises to sack the public service,” – On the contrary, I think that they were largely ignorant, misled by a powerful and biased media, inordinately selfish and fooled by socialisation that has entrenched privilege and position in our society as something which must be respected and to which we can all aspire. This is, of course, the *biggest lie* of all.
We cannot all do anything we want, achieve anything we want, be Prime Minister, a famous celebrity or a billionaire. Hard work or enthusiasm has little if anything to do with it. It is the major myth that shackles our society rather than freeing it.
We don’t need a new word for hypocritical, parsimonious, fraudulent, unethical, uncaring, or any of the many other epithets which accurately characterise many or our politicians. We do need a new consciousness – an understanding by the general populace of what these words mean and clear examples of why it is legitimate to apply them to certain politicians. We do need to put aside frustration exacerbated opinionated ranting and replace it with sober, considered and thoughtful discussion focused on problem solving rather than problem blaming. And the only way that will happen is when we work together and acknowledge that most have genuine interest and feeling and something positive to contribute. When we realise that the true government comprises all elected representatives and not just those in the party with a majority of seats. And when we dispose of our sycophantic adoption of US style, presidential politics and revert ( or advance) to one of real participation by the people and real representation of it by those elected to serve us.
Janne I would be interested to know where you get your facts from. Have you ever been a public servant? Have you ever tried to ring private companies like Telstra? All government services have a very well-defined complaints procedure so if you have been treated badly you most definitely have avenues to follow it up. The public service includes many people. Perhaps you would specify the data that has led you to the conclusion that they are all bludgers.
I would also be interested to hear about your opinion on politicians claiming expenses for social events.
Excellent article and very true. When I was working our hospital had various charity runs and not once did the staff, including the Doctors charge the hospital for participating. We all gave freely of our time and, yes, money, to buy things like sausages, bread etc. Abbott has displayed absolute arrogance in his ‘I’ve said sorry so shut up about it’ attitude over his ‘entitlements’ He is NOT entitled to the public purse when he is going to a friend’s wedding, or flogging his boring self-serving book (I read half a chapter of a friends copy and nearly fell asleep) or electioneering when he is supposedly doing charity work. The absolute gall of the pious idiot ( I refuse to call him a man because men take responsibility for their actions) to charge the publc purse for his own gain is beyond words. I usually try to find good in people, but I am really struggling to find good in this (non) character. I don’t hate, it’s bad for the digestion, but Tony Abbott i dispise….no, I loath, with every fibre of my being. He is destroying this country in sateing his meglomania and his kowtowing to the likes of Murdoch and Rinehart and the truly sad thing is, his tame followers cannot, or will not, see it. I just hope he is kicked out before the damage is irreversable.
I can not believe that people are still out ther defending this thieving government. We have so much more bad stuff coming from Abbott and Co they will soon stop trying to defend him. Great piece Victoria, there are a few people waking up to Abbott now, pity they did not wake up before he was voted in. He is one of the biggest hypocrites I have ever seen. Same with the rest of his front bench.
I have a feeling Janne is the real sad puppy,. Who is going to be in for an awful shock with this totally corrupt government in. Then perhaps she can come back and apologize for her terrible bad manners. Typical of liberal supporters though when they start feeling frustrated they start attacking people. It must be awful for her to watch this government on a slippery slope down after only a month.
I know Janne, she works for the Liberal party.
I look forward to the Double Dissolution of Parliament so that Tony and his mates can be consigned to the dustbin of History. Bring it on, Liberals!!
Victoria, thanks for another fine article, and well said 😎
As far as related jobs go, according to a report that I read in QLD after Newman’s cuts, the number was up to 4 private sector jobs affected for every 1 PS position lost. 😯
Keep up the good work.
My take on this very issue… “LNP trough snouting.” 😀
Cheers 😀
Thanks for standing up for workers who are often maligned by conservatives and who generally are unable to answer back. Thanks also for the links to the articles by Van Badham and Mike Carlton, both of which were spot on.
Thanks to Pistachio C for the link regarding sponsors of the Pollie Pedal. Now there’s something the MSM missed.
As for Murdoch, both the UK and Australian electorates are also sick of phoney media corporate leaders whose outlets have scrounged off the deaths of soldiers and children and who attempt to suck out any sense of human decency from the public and private spheres.
The only other word I could think of is “*&&^%&U^!!!” loved the article, well said!!
Not happy Janne,well neither are many of us.You poor silly fool,do you really think your calls will be answered faster or services hastened by reduction of providers.Your party will not be in Gov.after the next election so lap it up while you can.
Abbott has claimed $4.2m between 2009 and 2012.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BWXhvsKCMAAtnxB.jpg
I think the only way to stop politicians claiming expenses and travel they are not entitled to is to give them allowance for travel and expenses.
Backbenches could get so much, minister and shadow minister get a bit more and Prime Minister and the LOTO get a bit more.
All travel and expenses including oversea travel e.g. study tours and partners expenses as well, would have to be paid out of the allowance if they use more then their allowance they paid it out of their own pocket.
Just look at Abbott since he has been PM he gone to Indonesia twice within a week why didn’t he combined them both into one trip even if he stop in Indonesia a couple more days it would of been cheaper
On a related subject, just posted “Sorry for what Tony?” 😀
Cheers 😀
janne …you need to take a powder and go back to bed …rest…then get up and see how it really is in a liberal government world NOT GOOD for the average hard working aussie…….maybe abbott is deciding to sack more people so as he can rort the system for more bike rides and weddings..yes people voted him in not really believing what a dog he really is….if an election was held today what then????????
Hypocritical bastard is my feeling. Tony Abbott has cut promised funds to many wonderful charities and NFP organisations. Read the article to find what he has to cut to pay for his next year’s round of sporting events.
Father Riley hit out at the Coalition’s decision, pointing out that national crime prevention grants were funded through the proceeds of crime rather than general revenue and were not election promises.
”I don’t understand this, the proceeds of crime is not taxpayer money,” Father Riley said.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan said: ”The government is currently working through the arrangements required to implement our election commitments.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/hit-and-run-on-crime-prevention-likely-20131012-2vf25.html#ixzz2hXr7WCKQ
Could I be cynical enough to say that all these raids of Bikie houses seizing cash etc have really stepped up since Tony gets to keep the cash to pay for his PPL and Direct Action fiascos as well as his family’s attendance at football finals and his colleagues’ wedding networking study tours.
Excellent article Victoria. How dare Abbott claim for travel fares to weddings (paid by taxpayers), and other events that have since come to light. I watched him the other day fending of questions about this and noted the arrogance of his answers as well as directing the attention finally away to some Indigenous employment project in the WA he has achieved. This man has only been in power for a short time and we are finding out things already about how much regard he has for taxpayers who pay for his newspapers, his petrol, etc and now for his personal travel that is not remotely Government related. What else is lurking the wings?? And it is worth pointing out that Labor also has people who have used taxpayers money for fraudulent purposes. Should be an inquiry into the who sorry lot of you. I worked for the public sector for 25 years and also the private sector. I have never worked so hard in my life as the public sector and rarely ever had time to be sick. I pity those poor public servants who are already operating with the minimum of staff and doing more than one job. Go for it Abbott see what else you can rort the poor taxpayer for. All I can say is what goes around comes around and you will have a lot to answer for.
If nothing is done to reign in this egomaniac and punish him for his crimes it will certainly set a new president for politicians won’t it. A lot of politicians already think they are above the law, and now they will know they are. This pig should be sacked and made to pay for his crimes to send a message to other politicians, that they are NOT above the law, and the job of being PM is to work for the Australian people, not carry on like they’re in Hollywood..
I think you mean precedent, Chookins.
This issue of unethical entitlements by politicians has certainly burned the career prospects of many politicians in The United Kingdom. British politicians were caught with their snouts well and truly in the trough a year or two ago, very interesting to see how the murdoch press treated that issue. It will be fascinating to watch how the Murdoch media in Australia trys to bury this issue here, but the cat is out of the bag and running amok in these online blogs. Keep up the good work, folks, the Abbottoir’s honeymoon is well and truly over if there ever was one at all.
Kaye Lee
The bikie raids are taking attention from white collar crime, such as rorting taxpayers or setting up faux political parties, buying votes? (ask Palmer) and appear to be doing something about crime.
What really pisses me off, is that the 5th estate has been aware of pollie-rorts for a very long time but this knowledge has only just reached the mainstream press – now? Conveniently after the election of King Rort himself.
‘Hypocrite’ is sounding too tame a word for this blatant insult to the public.
One term only for King Rort.
The worst thing is he will not have the ticker to call a double dissalution because he knows he won’t win next time. I would also like to know when they are all going to stop jetsetting around the world, when are they going to stop taking wealthy business men with them at the tax payers expense I am sure. None of them could wait to jump on a plane and head out of the country. Do they know that they are supposed to be in the country that voted them in. Also when are they going to address this so called budget emergency. Sorry my mistake, they fixed that on day one. Everything has been fixed and they did not even have to do a thing. Thank you labor for our great economy. Now just bring a vote of no confidence in this government because now even the people that voted for them are beginning to see the error of their ways.
Debasement of the public service has been a long-game run by the right-wingers for 30 years and it goes hand in hand with their desire to destroy unions, it is a multi-pronged, divide and conquer, attack that ultimately leads to full privatisation of government services and assets.
By eliminating public sector workers, service levels decline as more less of them try to cover the same volume of work. Declining service leads to the perception that they are inefficient, which encourages the populace to believe the “private is moire efficient” mantra, constantly repeated corporates and the libertarians.
Pubic sector workers are also more likely to be members of unions, therefore, less public servants = less union representation = less power to the employer = further eroding workers rights and ability for them to collectively bargain, which leads to the diminution of ALL workers rights.
The other bonus for the Lieberals is the dismantling of the union power base, with less members they are less representative of the population and are easier to demonise, which means less support for Labor and more funds flowing to the LNP from their cashed-up backers.
State the message often enough about how inefficient the public service is and eventually the public will start to believe the lie. Repeat the message from a variety of different sources through a biased media,beholden to the plutocracy and ably supported by a party desperate for the money and support these entities supply and you have a monstrous conspiracy that will ultimately lead to the complete corporatisation of all government services.
LNP behaviour is only comprehensible when you realise it is based on a view of the world where you don’t give a shit about other people and their jobs and families. They detest the public service because it is there to deliver services to the very people they, the deserving elite (as they see themselves) despise. They want the public service to serve THEIR NEEDS, not those of the broader community and in particular those who are most vulnerable. I’m surprised that anyone wants to be a public servant in this day and age, when they are vilified and disrespected by those who they serve and work for.
STOP THE WASTE (except for chartered flights and photographic services)
I’m a state public servant. We have to pay for our own Christmas party – $10 a head for a bbq on site. But Tony Abbott gets to claim for going to friends weddings, attending marathons etc, etc. There is something seriously wrong here. The man is even worse than I would have believed possible. We are not allowed to accept gifts, we are not allowed to be taken out to lunch by companies that do work for us etc, etc. Perhaps Tony Abott should have a look at the way the public service operates so as to avoid corruption.
I would like to offer a personal experience of the effects of ‘waste cutting’ measures in relation to the public sector. My wife put herself through a gruelling 4 year degree to become a speech pathologist. Her burning passion was/is to work with children, especially the disabled, and she was overjoyed when her application to DDAHC was successfull.
The honeymoon was over almost before it began, as the Howard govt embarked on one of it’s many ‘govt. waste cutting’ exercises. She found herself working in a department with virtually NO clerical assistance, or appropriate supervision/mentoring, these jobs being deemed ‘wasteful’. Her desire to practise her profession, and deliver a crucial service to those who most needed it, was steadily eroded to the point that the paperwork/administrative load took so much of her time she was reduced to seeing 2 clients a week. It was demoralising, beyond frustrating, and heartbreaking. To put this into perspective, when she began working in the private sector, her case load was close to 10 clients PER DAY!!! Most of the administrative work was looked after by someone employed to do that job, leaving her free to actually do what she had studied and trained to do.
Janne, you think you’re frustrated by having to wait on the phone for an hour? How do you think the parents of disabled children feel when they can’t access the services they desperately need for WEEKS? All because, apparently, the public service is full of bloated time-servers and ‘non-essential’ administrative staff? (I should also note that the longest serving member of her team had been in the dept a whole 10 years.)
My local Centrelink office sees close to 300 people a day walk through their doors. (There were originally 3 offices in the wider area, but they were merged as a ‘watse reduction’ measure). They only have enough staff to have 2 dedicated front counter CSO’s available at any given time, and even that’s a stretch on most occasions. Do the math and then justify to me the slashing of these people’s jobs, and not everyone who requires C’link assistance is a ‘dole bludger’. There are many truly desperate families out there in dire need of assistance. I guess the money was more urgently needed to cover the cost of ‘work related’ wedding’s etc.
Grrrrrrr!!
How mean to pick on the greatest prime minister since Tony Abbott. This bloke is an iron man. A super athlete. A media star such as even Tom Roper could not aspire to being
Thank you, Wayne.
I experienced similar treatment during my time in Public Service. Less time to do work for which I was more than qualified due to load of administrative tasks.
And Janne complains about waiting on phone? Has Janne never tried to phone a large corporation such as banking, large retailer, telecos? The same cutting of jobs performed under the title of ‘multi-skilling’ meant people burnt out by workload and unable to actually do the work for which they were hired. And don’t get me started on the people who were retrenched then rehired on contracts at greater cost than their original employment conditions. The only ‘advantage’ is that people can be contracted and let go at the discretion of the employer – however this does not actually save money – it just looks like savings are made on an accountant’s spreadsheet!
Would love to see a few CEO’s multi-skilled – wouldn’t last a full day.