11 October 2012

Greens plans for Business

| Jazz
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Way back when Johnboy and I founded RiotACT I was still gainfully employed in the glorious public service. I left shortly afterwards, primarily because one of the decisions handed down from on high was, what i perceived to be, a colossal waste of money.

On perusing the Greens plans for business today (highlights below) I noted that they’ve got an allocation of $200,000 to determine the feasibility of appointing a small business commissioner. Now while I fully support that the greens actually have a plan to support new & fledgling business in the ACT (RiotACT is one of those) I find a certain sense of irony and waste in conducing a $200k feasibility study into a role that could equally be determined by spending $200k in a year to actually fill the role.

TO SUPPORT CLEAN GREEN INDUSTRIES AND LOCAL BUSINESS, THE ACT GREENS WILL…

Allocate an additional $811,000 to micro-credit programs in the ACT including additional support for Lighthouse to run these programs
Provide $738,000 to establish a Business Services Office as a single business entry point
Provide $200,000 to determine the need for a Small Business Commissioner to better support the small and local business sector
Allocate $100,000 to improve construction & demolition waste recycling
Commit $351,000 to ACT Procurement Solutions to employ a sustainable procurement change agent and to develop processes better suited to local, micro, small and medium sized businesses
Commit $200,000 to implement supermarket competition reforms

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You overlook the colossal waste of money being $351k for “sustainable procurement change agent”. What the hell is that? I don’t think that any more layers of “considerations” is needed in procurement. It should be a value for money and quality decision only. Another example of a waste which will cause more waste rather than benefit.

Then there’s $200k for a supermarket competition policy? Competition policy is not a function of local or state government. They should spend more time focusing on critical government services rather than pissing our money down the drain and in the process contravening competition laws by interfering in markets that are none of their concern.

But hey, at least all of these studies are consistent with their current all talk and no action policy shared with Labor. The possbility of another 4 years of this crap frightens me slightly..

I demand a feasibility study into the possible implementation of a program that looks to more effectively prepare and deliver feasibility studies.

What will the office do? What is their role? Who do they report to? What powers will they have? What powers do they need?

There is a lot of work involved in filling put all these details, work that requires a different type of person to the type of person who will fill the office when it is created.

You could spend $5000 getting site plans, dial before you dig, electrician’s reports, surveyor’s reports etc before putting in a new garage, or you could just go like a bull at a gate and spend that $5000 on a garage and screw the paperwork. But then you face the risk of having a garage that floods because you didn’t check whether you we’re digging into a water main. Or perhaps you can’t get the electricity connected to the garage because you didn’t have the appropriate infrastructure in place for the cabling to be installed safely.

You can’t install someone in office and then come back every few months to tell them that their responsibilities have changed. That is a great way to end up with the wrong kind of person in that office, as all the right people will have fled your insanity.

Poor planning predicates piss poor performance.

So many studies; so little action.

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