Staffers reminded that they aren't actually ministers

> It’s the internet, justbands. Try not to take things too seriously.

Yeah…I know, sorry. 🙂

justbands said :

How did you reach the conclusion that they are all bumsucking, greedy, clueless sycophants Woody?

The only one I know personally is hard working, very clever, certainly not greedy & whos first thoughts are always for others over herself.

& on topic, she’s never used a comcar, even after waiting well over an hour on multiple occasions for cabs.

I’ve known a quite a few after working in Parliamentary liaison positions in various departments and high profile areas in some of the big Depts. Some are good at their jobs others are awful. Alston, when he was ICT Minister used to hire some of his advisers straight from Melb. Uni and they lacked any experience in the roles they were meant to be advising on, let alone life in general. The worst one though is a guy who was over promoted by about 2 two positions (at least – by a guy that is about to find himself unemployed when his SES contract expires in a few weeks) and was considered by those around him (including staff, his peers and bosses) to be a complete non-event and a waste of time. Rather than sacking him they gave him to an incoming Labor Minister as an adviser just to get him out of there.

Ant’s FAS (#12) – nice to know some are more judicious with their spending of tax dollars. In contrast, our just-retired FAS who had just returned from an OS holiday to an Asian country starting with V, told everyone at a division meeting how amazed she was at how expensive the trip was. It had been that long time since she had paid like normal people. And of course, any trip would seem expensive compared to the usual – er – ‘free’ (ie government-paid, business class) travel!

Thing is they have a disproportionate level of power to their position, and are also totally unaccountable.

So if they are out to cause trouble or be nasty, they have much more scope than almost anyone else.

How did you reach the conclusion that they are all bumsucking, greedy, clueless sycophants Woody?

It’s the internet, justbands. Try not to take things too seriously.

I see your point V8_Fairlane, but look beyond the interdepartmental charging. How much is this actually costing the taxpayer?

> Sepi I agree – some are good, some are bad

Kinda like the general population, who’d have thought!

Sepi I agree – some are good, some are bad. The bad one’s I have dealt with however happen to be amongst the worst people I have ever known.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

How to reform the Ministerial staffing system:

– sack all current Ministerial staffers, and ban them from such offices for life
– advertise for new staffers
– ban all applicants from holding such offices for life, because they’re the same kinds of bumsucking, greedy, clueless sycophants as the last lot
– appoint staffers from within the public service – those most reluctant to go are probably most qualified for the job.

Then sack the Pubes and second people from private enterprise where they understand efficiency and productivity.

ComCar charges the relevant department/office very expensive rates for each trip. From memory, about a year ago it was $77 Parl Hse to Airport. A lot of staffers used hire cars then, as the $45 charge was much more reasonable for the same service. Comcars hourly rate was in the region of $88/hr, hire cars were $66/hr.

> (This was years ago, but the memory sticks.)

New Government, new staffers.

Ah, the Entitlement of it all. A FAS I worked for not long ago, travelled under sufferance, and if he had to attend a meeting in Sydney, he got the train from the airport. I know this as, on his return, he’d carefully present his train tickets for acquittal.

His Department runs Comcar.

I have worked with 3. One very nice, one fine and one such a shocker that I never want to deal with another one ever again. He was known for ringing lower and lower level people and shouting at them if he didn’t get what he wanted, until eventually some poor newbie would give in and provide whatever dodgy info he wanted. (This was years ago, but the memory sticks.)

I hope they are reforming the lack of accountability for these staffers, as well as just their transport.

Let alone a bus!

How much does ComCar really cost to run? Does it make much difference if the cars are actually running or not. Once you get down to it, I suspect there’s very little cost difference between having the cars and drivers sitting idle as opposed to actually driving somewhere. I’m tempted to simply let staffers use comcars if they are available, it’s probably cheaper than having them use taxis.

Don’t all Commonwealth bookings for cars have to go through ComCar and only if they can’t oblige do you get sent a taxi. (Probably showing my age) ComCars cost about the same per day if they are used or not. When the VIPs are away from Canberra the cars should still be used with a resulting saving to the taxpayer. Who would want to wait for a taxi in Canberra anyway.

Mr Waffle said :

Bus passes for all!

Let the ‘pluses of buses’ begin ….

How did you reach the conclusion that they are all bumsucking, greedy, clueless sycophants Woody?

The only one I know personally is hard working, very clever, certainly not greedy & whos first thoughts are always for others over herself.

& on topic, she’s never used a comcar, even after waiting well over an hour on multiple occasions for cabs.

How to reform the Ministerial staffing system:

– sack all current Ministerial staffers, and ban them from such offices for life
– advertise for new staffers
– ban all applicants from holding such offices for life, because they’re the same kinds of bumsucking, greedy, clueless sycophants as the last lot
– appoint staffers from within the public service – those most reluctant to go are probably most qualified for the job.

Bus passes for all!

Said it before and I’ll say it again,”life is just a series of interconnected disappointments”.

Obviously Rudd wants more money to spend on keeping his RAAF BBJs and 604s in the air so he can keep travelling around the world.

No more frivolous aircraft chartering, either.

What’s the point of being on the right hand of God of you don’t get the lurks? =-/