30 November 2007

rudd's squad ready to take on the longest season...

| astrojax
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bizzarre new ministry, going by the titles of each listed in our abc’s report on same…

poor switchboard operators, is all i can say, for jenny macklin’s & anthony albanese’s portfolios…

and it seems we have two departments of defence – one with joel fitzgibbon who has, simply, ‘defence’, while warrens snowdon has [and note the comma] ‘defence, science and personnel’… what does a department of ‘personnel’ do?

and we also have two portfolios for housing – jenny macklin’s switchboard nightmare and tanya plibersek’s ‘housing and status of women’. what, by the way, is the current status of you women, then?

and for even further confusion, the ministry of health and ageing of nicola roxon is replicated by justine elliot’s simple ‘ageing’ portfolio. these are cabinet and outer ministries, not parl secs…

and the most bizarre on, i rekkun, is martin ferguson’s ‘resources, energy and tourism’. i can see the ads now: ‘australia – where the bloody hell are ya ’cause we’re sitting ‘ere with all this stuff to dig up…’

bob debus gets ‘home affairs’. is this for the working families? craig, leave eppinee alone and clean your room. trent, get out and clear up that yard; i’ve got your father’s shirts to mend and his tea t’ cook before i go to me shift at target.

ahh, interesting times… ; )

[ED – dubious local content but allowed due to the Public Service ructions sure to follow. But what about Julia’s mega-ministry of doom?]

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Gungahlin Al3:29 pm 03 Dec 07

Have received the AAOs – Territories is with Attorney General’s.

Kate Lundy was on 666 Friday saying she thought it would be in the Regional Development and Local Government one – so did I. Proved us wrong…
Makes as much sense as putting Tourism in with Energy and Resources, instead of with Business and Industry.

Also curious is the Minister for Climate Change – it doesn’t mention Water, even though the media reports did. And Household Energy Efficiency remains with Environment.

Clever letter in CT today asked what the Opposition would call the shadow portfolio for climate change, seeing as they don’t believe in it!

caf, dunno about the acronym bits (though i must admit to a bit of sadness at the almost complete lack of poetry in the acronyms, but i used to call a friend at immigration when it had indigenous affairs as well as citizenship and the poor people wot answered the call each time seemed quite exasperated having that mouthful to manage each time – how many times a day can you say a portfolio’s name with that many different bits to it!!

“Yep, The Concat linked to this SMH article that lists them.”

Thanks, I missed the link.

“It was originally going to be Homeland Security but considering joke the US one is, they didnt want the comparisons.”

Thank heavens somebody sobered up enough to rethink that idea.

So lets try that again..

It was originally going to be Homeland Security but considering joke the US one is, they didnt want the comparisons.

It is going to include ASIO, AFP, DIO and someone else that i cant remember.

joke the US one is, they didnt want the comparisons.

It is going to include ASIO, AFP, DIO and someone else that i cant remember.

Yep, The Concat linked to this SMH article that lists them.

This seems to be the HST election, that must be about the 20th time I’ve seem someone reference him in election commentary.

Anybody know where there’s a list of the names and responsibilities of the new departments and ministers?

Some of the areas thrown together seem pretty odd. The “Social Inclusion” polit-speak has got go! I do hope Kev doesn’t go overboard with all the touchy feely national togetherness stuff.

My thought re: Home Affairs was that it was intended to be something like the British Home Office. Hopefully closer to that than the irksome US Dept of Homeland Security.

I think Kev might subscribe to Hunter S Thompson’s philosophy that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. I get the feeling he intend to make the most of the electoral victory and his current Supreme Being status within the party. Be interesting to see how much social revolutionary – if any – there is lurking behind that fusty old economic conservative exterior.

Yeah, I think it’s Defence (Science and Personnel).

On another note, I think it’s an interesting insight into a certain type of beaucratic mindset that seems to believe porfolios should live or die primarily based on quality of acronym or ease of answering the phone 😉

No it is Defence Science and personnel It is an outter ministry job though. Kind of halfway between a cabinet minister and a Parl Sec. See it is the same with Veteran Affairs. Veteran affirs is part of the wider Department of Defence. It is managed seperatly but comes under the same umbrella.

Also Home affairs will be part of the wider AG’s Department.

Nothing strange in here, escept maybe some of the choices.

thanks ed – thought PS content, and the fact that the maligned switchboard operators will at least be surely ACT bods make it an ok r/act thread…

julia’s megamin wil need uber vitamins to make it even vaguely functional. seems a disaster i waiting for mine. are we going to see all the little kevs and julies born and bred to mediocrity, lives in thrall to trades alone? where is the cutting edge innovation and development through unis and such, eh? whither the arts and self-fulfillment?

Gungahlin Al1:58 pm 30 Nov 07

Skid: – one of those wombat things – eats roots and leaves…

@astrojax: I think it may be a Secretary in charge of Defence: Science and Personnel, rather than Dept of Defence, Science, and Personnel.

the Department of Science has been part of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research for a great many moons now.

@Sammy: yes, yes they do. And they are terrible and wretched things.
I don’t work in one, but near one.

poor switchboard operators

Do Department’s even have switchboard operators these days?

See, Johnnie warned us that things would get weird without him in charge! 🙂

Home Affairs – sounds like a dating service for bored and unloved housewives/husbands.

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