8 January 2009

Staffers reminded that they aren't actually ministers

| johnboy
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The Herald Sun has a piece of bad news for Ministerial Staffers in the Rudd Government.

They’re being turfed out of the Comcar system and will have to make their own transport arrangements like the rest of us.

That they aren’t actually as important as members of parliament will come as a dreadful shock to some.

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ant said :

BerraBoy68 said :

You’r right ant, Alston was OK. He wasn’t above talking to us plebs about the important messages we wanted/needed hi to say at industry events we’d organised. Did you work in DCITA (Dep’t of Coms IT and Arts)? Either way, sounds like we might have known some of the same people.

Yep, I was there during the bushfires! Was located right over the top of Sweeney Todd’s cafe (t’s improved now, I notice).

Alston was always very courteous, his current role suits his manners, I think. Although the time he rang, and then wanted me to put him through to the boss’s mobile flummoxed me somewhat!

LOL. I must have been there prior to you. I was gone by the time the fires came through. The cafe is called ‘Sweeny Todds’?! It was ‘Bazaarts’ when I was there.

Skidbladnir said :

Advisors are the spawn of satan, and Ministerial minutes\briefings are their chosen instruments of despair.

don’t forget the lobbyists. always wanted to get a job as a lobbyist. buggered if i knew what they did.

OT, if the staffers want free travel and other perks, get them to run in the next election.

BerraBoy68 said :

You’r right ant, Alston was OK. He wasn’t above talking to us plebs about the important messages we wanted/needed hi to say at industry events we’d organised. Did you work in DCITA (Dep’t of Coms IT and Arts)? Either way, sounds like we might have known some of the same people.

Yep, I was there during the bushfires! Was located right over the top of Sweeney Todd’s cafe (t’s improved now, I notice).

Alston was always very courteous, his current role suits his manners, I think. Although the time he rang, and then wanted me to put him through to the boss’s mobile flummoxed me somewhat!

Advisors are the spawn of satan, and Ministerial minutes\briefings are their chosen instruments of despair.

ant said :

BerraBoy68 said :

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.

I quite liked Alston, he was a gentleman, but some of the delightful little pieces who worked for him were vile. Arrogant and ignorant. Parliamentary liaison with people like that was frustrating to say the least.

You’r right ant, Alston was OK. He wasn’t above talking to us plebs about the important messages we wanted/needed hi to say at industry events we’d organised. Did you work in DCITA (Dep’t of Coms IT and Arts)? Either way, sounds like we might have known some of the same people.

The Public service is accountable, Ministers are accountable.

Ministerial advisers are not. This leads to Ministerial advisers perhaps not passing on important info to the Minister, if that info should be something the Minister wants to be able to deny knowing about later – eg Kids overboard.

jube_V8Fairlane_235kw2:15 pm 09 Jan 09

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

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

It is costing us a fortune! I was just trying to point out that the service doesn’t sit around at a fixed cost, and inter-departmental charging is probably costing us more than just having the cars available for use. The use of hire cars exclusively would still cost a bomb. A ComCar bus running to and from the airport for staffers in sitting weeks would probably save all of us a motza.

What’s a FAS?

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.

Perhaps we should do away with Ministers and just have the Public Service make all the decisions.

BerraBoy68 said :

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.

I quite liked Alston, he was a gentleman, but some of the delightful little pieces who worked for him were vile. Arrogant and ignorant. Parliamentary liaison with people like that was frustrating to say the least.

> 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.

Woody Mann-Caruso6:10 pm 08 Jan 09

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.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy4:27 pm 08 Jan 09

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!

Absent Diane3:56 pm 08 Jan 09

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.

neanderthalsis3:27 pm 08 Jan 09

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.

jube_V8Fairlane_235kw2:55 pm 08 Jan 09

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!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy2:07 pm 08 Jan 09

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.

ChrisinTurner2:00 pm 08 Jan 09

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.

Woody Mann-Caruso1:36 pm 08 Jan 09

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? =-/

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