Blame Canberra?

Who here is going to blame ‘Canberra’ ? Obviously a few who should be first against the wall.

NickD said ‘ The turnover rates for ministerial staff don’t seem to be particularly bad in comparison to the average APS section, in which there’s normally about 100% turnover (albeit to other areas of the department or other agencies) every three years or so.’

You ar joking aren’t you??

The turnover rates for ministerial staff don’t seem to be particularly bad in comparison to the average APS section, in which there’s normally about 100% turnover (albeit to other areas of the department or other agencies) every three years or so. Bear in mind that this is also the Rudd Government’s first term and a) many of the Ministerial staffers didn’t realise what they were signing up to and b) many of the Ministers didn’t realise what they needed from the staff. The seperation rates for ministerial staff were particularly high in the first months of the Government but seem to settled down.

Personally, I don’t feel much in the way of pity for the party employees being flogged – Aurelius’ post summed it up well. I do feel a bit sorry, though, for the public servants (of which I am not one) who have been plugging away at their jobs for years, who are suddenly being told to get things done with no resources in impossible timeframes. I work for a private sector company who tends to do this too, but the people I work with are typically highly educated individuals who will make a choice as to how hard they wish to work, and act accordingly. This often means people will knowingly turn down promotions and opportunities, but this is done out of choice. Also, people leave when they’ve had enough. Many public servants don’t seem to have this level of self empowerment and decision making capacity (partly through circumstance).

I for one don’t like Rudd. And the more I hear about what goes on amongst his staffers, the stronger that view becomes.

Given the average turnover of government agencies is 20 to 30 percent and krudd’s is double to triple that, it is plain for all to see that the problem is with the employer rather than anything else. Though it doesn’t really surprise me, his performance as a prime minister has been nothing short of terrible and full of empty promises and half baked ideas, working for him would be similar.

You sign up knowing that it is a tough job requiring long hours, living in Canberra at least part of the time (oh the horror) and a lot of travel. Many take on the role because they have political ambitions or they realise that being the nodding head behind the talking head opens a lot of doors in the future.

We all know that the reason for high turnovers of ministerial staff in this government is because of the micromanaging, narcissistic muppets running the show. But I don’t think the PM is likely to publically acknowledge that.

I was a staffer for Mr Beazley in 1997/98.
A normal work day started at 8am for the daily staff meeting, and we’d work until dinner-time. I’d go home and dine with my wife, then go back to work. Work till about midnight, then home for sleep, shower and back to work.
On weekends, Saturdays would be a work day comparable to a normal job – around 9 until dinnertime. Sundays started early because of the current affair shows on Sunday mornings, and then again go to dinnertime.
I can remember taking time out to watch AFL matches in the staff room on weekends.
Were we paid for all those hours? No.
Was it exploitative? Probably.
Did anyone force us to work such long hours? No.
Why did we do it? We loved the work, we were political junkies, and we believed in what we were doing.

Make no mistake – staffers work their rings off. But there’s no overseer with a whip and barking dogs keeping them there. It’s almost always self-driven.

Would I work such a job again? Nope.

that argument would only make sense if previous govts and ministers had had the same sort of trouble keeping staff…

I wouldn’t take that personally as a Canberran.

A lot of people travel for work, spending a long time away from home, friends and family and for some people there comes a point where the money and the intellectual stimulation of the job just doesn’t stack up so they look for something else – it’s just that in this instance the travel destination is Canberra.

But that’s enough of defending Rudd and his micro-managing bunch of wind-sock ministers. The bunch of incompetent pricks couldn’t organise a fcuk in a brothel and it’s not surprising that their staff are telling them to shove their reckless spending policy agenda where the sun don’t shine.

Or the various Ministers could employ people who live in Canberra…

Just a thought.