21 February 2012

What does Tio do all day?

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times is twisting the knife they’ve shoved into Liberal Leader Zed Seselja’s guts by questioning just which community groups director of electorate services Tio Faulkner has been spending his time with?

It’s an important question because according to Zed he’s been so busy “out in the community” that he’s never seen at the place of work he draws an ACT taxpayer funded salary from and in fact was so busy he couldn’t get his timesheets in for 22 months:

More than 20 community groups around Canberra say they have had no dealings with Tio Faulkner in his taxpayer-funded role as director of electorate services for Canberra Liberals’ leader Zed Seselja.

Most of the 22 community and professional groups, industry associations and lobbyists contacted by The Canberra Times said they had never heard of the Canberra Liberals president at the heart of the controversy engulfing Mr Seselja’s office.

Zed in turn says it was other community groups but, sadly, none he’s willing to name.

The real next stage in this saga now that Zed has explained himself to the Assembly [ABC article] will be when an auditor goes over 8 odd man years of backdated timesheets and cross references those probable fantasies to the cold hard reality of building and computer access logs.

Zed is trying to inoculate himself from that:

But he has cast doubt on the methods that will be used to track attendance, including a check of computer log-ins and swipe card access.

He says that is of little use when staff are required to work off-site.

Don’t worry though folks the ABC reports Zed says:

“At all times I’ve been satisfied that staff have been gainfully and appropriately employed,”

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colourful sydney racing identity1:33 pm 21 Mar 12

SocialHandGrenade said :

NoImRight said :

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

Can you expand at all on your first paragraph? Genuine question. I see this sort of complaint about Govt but rarely see any specifics. Its easy tsay Unions do this and I have too much paperwork but even just a couple of examples might give me better perspective on what you see as the problem.

The problem with speaking out on the tactics the union use to bully & threaten businesses leaves us open to even more pressure & scrutiny from them. Numerous times I have wanted to contact the media after particularly aggressive threats & run ins with them but quite frankly it would be to our peril. The problem is Canberra is such a small pond, too easy to over govern & without enough small companies to keep them busy enough to even give us 5 minutes to breath. It’s like having a monkey on our back constantly. We are good and honest company. We strive to do the right thing all the time. We should have the right to kindly say ‘no thank you’ to joining the union & not feel threatened. They are a law unto themselves & as business owners, we have no independent third-party to retreat to when they are crossing the line. We are treated as the enemy & have no one to defend us but ourselves.

Along with every other small business owner I have spoken to recently has had no choice but to cut back on staff, is losing work to interstate companies who undercut our prices even though we are pricing to barely make a profit, the insurance premiums are breaking the bank & all the new changes to the Fair Work legislation requires a university degree to understand & comply with. If you don’t comply to their hundreds of pages of documents required to simply put forth a progress payment, you don’t get paid. If it’s for auditing or accreditation, you don’t get passed or you’re heavily fined. We feel that under labor government small business in the ACT is at this stage, doomed to fail.

At least Zed Seselja & the liberal party are willing to work with us to make the necessary changes to ensure small businesses like ours have a fair chance to survive. He has shown genuine concern for our situation & given me some hope of remaining to live & work in Canberra rather than look to start all over again elsewhere. I quite frankly have very much appreciated it & hate seeing him vilified over something as stupid as time sheets when the labor government has some serious failures and are seriously out of control.

You forgot something: Written and authorised by Brian Loughnane, Canberra

Micky_P said :

The President of the ACT branch of the Australian Labor Party is Garrett Purtill who in 2009 was concurrently employed as Senior Advisor to the ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Treasurer.
The position as ALP President might be “essentially ceremonial” but the senior advisor one sounds like it has a salary attached, paid by the ACT taxpayers. Can we see his timesheets now?

You do realise that Garrett Purtill doesn’t do anything for the Labor Party? Yeah? Mr Purtill isn’t rocking up to another office and working a second job, that advisor job is his job. The Liberals are trying to staff their party on taxpayer funds – and it is shameful.

Now I have heard everything – a president of the ACT Labor party that doesn’t do anything? So, why doesn’t he resign and give the job to someone else? It must be true then that the national branch of the ALP has taken over the cashed up ACT branch and made them all eunuchs. I would still like to see his timesheets (for both jobs)

The President of the ACT branch of the Australian Labor Party is Garrett Purtill who in 2009 was concurrently employed as Senior Advisor to the ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Treasurer.
The position as ALP President might be “essentially ceremonial” but the senior advisor one sounds like it has a salary attached, paid by the ACT taxpayers. Can we see his timesheets now?

You do realise that Garrett Purtill doesn’t do anything for the Labor Party? Yeah? Mr Purtill isn’t rocking up to another office and working a second job, that advisor job is his job. The Liberals are trying to staff their party on taxpayer funds – and it is shameful.

Micky_P said :

The ACT Labor Secretary, Elias Hallaj does not draw a salary from taxpayers, he’s not even remotely comparable to the taxpayer funded Tio Faulkner. He is employed by Labor and paid with Labor money.

His job is to run the ACT branch of the Labor party, administering the office, sorting out disputes within the party, representing the ACT Labor branch etc.

The President of ACT Labor is a figure head position, his job is essentially ceremonial.

The President of the ACT branch of the Australian Labor Party is Garrett Purtill who in 2009 was concurrently employed as Senior Advisor to the ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Treasurer.
The position as ALP President might be “essentially ceremonial” but the senior advisor one sounds like it has a salary attached, paid by the ACT taxpayers. Can we see his timesheets now?

The ACT Labor Secretary, Elias Hallaj does not draw a salary from taxpayers, he’s not even remotely comparable to the taxpayer funded Tio Faulkner. He is employed by Labor and paid with Labor money.

His job is to run the ACT branch of the Labor party, administering the office, sorting out disputes within the party, representing the ACT Labor branch etc.

The President of ACT Labor is a figure head position, his job is essentially ceremonial.

#37 Umm so thats a no on any specific examples then? Sorry but vague innuendo doesnt really progress this for me.

So Zed has said hes going to get rid of Fair Work legislation? Is that the gist of it? Eager to know what his plan is there. These interstate companies you cant compete with dont have the same insurance obligations and, it seems, arent covered by Fair Work Australia? That doesnt seem likely.

Seperately you understand its not time sheets at the heart of this, more what his guys were up to while spending our dollars. If Zed is happy to spend your tax dollars on work that is for him and not you while in Opposition I dont see how that makes him the white knight to take over even more of our money.

SocialHandGrenade12:31 pm 22 Feb 12

NoImRight said :

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

Can you expand at all on your first paragraph? Genuine question. I see this sort of complaint about Govt but rarely see any specifics. Its easy tsay Unions do this and I have too much paperwork but even just a couple of examples might give me better perspective on what you see as the problem.

The problem with speaking out on the tactics the union use to bully & threaten businesses leaves us open to even more pressure & scrutiny from them. Numerous times I have wanted to contact the media after particularly aggressive threats & run ins with them but quite frankly it would be to our peril. The problem is Canberra is such a small pond, too easy to over govern & without enough small companies to keep them busy enough to even give us 5 minutes to breath. It’s like having a monkey on our back constantly. We are good and honest company. We strive to do the right thing all the time. We should have the right to kindly say ‘no thank you’ to joining the union & not feel threatened. They are a law unto themselves & as business owners, we have no independent third-party to retreat to when they are crossing the line. We are treated as the enemy & have no one to defend us but ourselves.

Along with every other small business owner I have spoken to recently has had no choice but to cut back on staff, is losing work to interstate companies who undercut our prices even though we are pricing to barely make a profit, the insurance premiums are breaking the bank & all the new changes to the Fair Work legislation requires a university degree to understand & comply with. If you don’t comply to their hundreds of pages of documents required to simply put forth a progress payment, you don’t get paid. If it’s for auditing or accreditation, you don’t get passed or you’re heavily fined. We feel that under labor government small business in the ACT is at this stage, doomed to fail.

At least Zed Seselja & the liberal party are willing to work with us to make the necessary changes to ensure small businesses like ours have a fair chance to survive. He has shown genuine concern for our situation & given me some hope of remaining to live & work in Canberra rather than look to start all over again elsewhere. I quite frankly have very much appreciated it & hate seeing him vilified over something as stupid as time sheets when the labor government has some serious failures and are seriously out of control.

What ‘union threats’ have you received?

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

Can you expand at all on your first paragraph? Genuine question. I see this sort of complaint about Govt but rarely see any specifics. Its easy tsay Unions do this and I have too much paperwork but even just a couple of examples might give me better perspective on what you see as the problem.

SocialHandGrenade11:12 am 22 Feb 12

PigDog said :

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

Is this a political broadcast?

So it’s ok for me to sit here & slag them off but not ok to give credit where credit is due? How typical of the Canberra mindset. The original post asked what Tio does all day. I responded with my personal experience. I am still more than willing to sit down with the labor party anytime to discuss strategies to help our industry survive all the bureaucratic b*#@shit & union threats. Further to that, I would like to understand why my son sat waiting for months for a place at the under-funded/under-staffed ACT Therapy while I watched hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on ‘Public Art’ but as I said… they are unwilling to do so. I thought the labor party was established to defend the working class man, clearly I was wrong.

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra

What small business would that be? I’m sure Tio would appreciate your public support.

PigDog said :

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

Is this a political broadcast?

You mean like the paid TV ones ActewAGL had about the enlarged Cotter Dam?

PigDog said :

Is this a political broadcast?

I do rather miss the old feature where the number of posts a person had made to Riotact was viewable under their handle.

SocialHandGrenade said :

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

Is this a political broadcast?

SocialHandGrenade8:30 pm 21 Feb 12

HenryBG said :

SocialHandGrenade said :

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government.

Really? So why did he scupper the power generator/data centre that was going to be built next to the Mugga tip at the behest of a few neurotic NIMBYs in Macarthur?

I don’t know. Why don’t you pick up the phone & ask him? When we used that tactic he actually made the time to sit down & talk to us & has done what he can to help us. I guess the ‘Nimbys’ did the same? Why didn’t you??

SocialHandGrenade said :

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government.

Really? So why did he scupper the power generator/data centre that was going to be built next to the Mugga tip at the behest of a few neurotic NIMBYs in Macarthur?

He’s an opportunist.

Incidentally, have you seen this cartoon?
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/first_post.png

SocialHandGrenade8:12 pm 21 Feb 12

SocialHandGrenade said :

They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

*unavailable*

SocialHandGrenade7:39 pm 21 Feb 12

My husband & I run a small business in Canberra & like the majority of small business owners, we are balancing on the edge of losing everything thanks to union pressure/insurance premiums/ludicrous amounts of unnecessary paperwork/non-payment of work completed.

No one in the labor government has ever made a minute of their time available to speak with us or listen to our concerns for our industry. They are more concerned with keeping their labor bosses at CFMEU happy & not tread on their toes (that alone is a full time job, leaving them available to the rest of us).

On the flipside, from our first meeting with Zed & Tio, they have consistently made themselves available to us anytime we need them. They genuinely share our concerns for our local community & businesses struggling under the labor government. Zed & Tio have completely changed my opinion of politicians & personally I have found them to be dedicated to their community & genuinely good people.

Why the heck are we worrying about time sheets when we should be more concerned with how the labor government & the unions are screwing up our country?!

johnboy said :

I think Marie Coleman left the reservation when she started savaging infill in Dickson.

True! But I bet the urge to stick the boot into the Tories would never, ever leave her!

Some of the Crimes’s informants are hardly objective. Marie Coleman, for example, is an old loyal ALP hand – appointed to the Labor gubmint’s Social Welfare Commission in 1975. She used to do fundraisers for the ALP for years. Absolutely at the core of the party machinations and very, very culturally “NSW Labor”.

I think Marie Coleman left the reservation when she started savaging infill in Dickson.

housebound said :

Should we rejoice that the Canberra Time is finally doing something that looks remotely like journalism?

It’s been a long time, maybe they’ve forgotten how. Clearly the various auditors and things don’t find these instances any more… some of the entities I’ve worked in, I could not fathom how they passed audits, until I realised that they wrote their own procedures and the TOR for the auditors…

So if the auditors and whatnot don’t uncover fraudulent use of taxpayer money, I guess that leaves the media and if we don’t have one, then we’re stuffed. Hopefully the CT will get a taste for blood and start sniffing around a few more filing cabinets. I’m sure plenty of leads and gossip comes their way.

all public servants should have to sign in and sign out every time the enter and leave the building. They also should have to work at night so the roads aren’t congested every morning and afternoon.

Ben_Dover said :

One day I met upon the stair,
A little man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today,
Oh, how I wish he’d stay away.

Your point is?

One day I met upon the stair,
A little man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today,
Oh, how I wish he’d stay away.

dungfungus said :

NoImRight said :

Being lazy with timesheets may not be a crime, although it doesnt speak well of the office as they generally arent challenging, but deliberately using tax payer funds for private uses might be.

Frankly who else has done what isnt a defence. The fact that someone has been murdered doesnt mean burglers shouldnt be prosecuted.

One of us needs to take medication. My reason is that I can’t comprehend what you are on about.

Comprehension failure is not new for you so seek whatever help you need. Or did you think this comment would pass for witty in the absence of something useful to say?

NoImRight said :

Being lazy with timesheets may not be a crime, although it doesnt speak well of the office as they generally arent challenging, but deliberately using tax payer funds for private uses might be.

Frankly who else has done what isnt a defence. The fact that someone has been murdered doesnt mean burglers shouldnt be prosecuted.

One of us needs to take medication. My reason is that I can’t comprehend what you are on about.

Being lazy with timesheets may not be a crime, although it doesnt speak well of the office as they generally arent challenging, but deliberately using tax payer funds for private uses might be.

Frankly who else has done what isnt a defence. The fact that someone has been murdered doesnt mean burglers shouldnt be prosecuted.

johnboy said :

dungfungus said :

Why don’t you ask him?

Well I’m moderately confident he is not.

The problem here is Zed’s mob thought they were being very clever with these innovations and it’s coming back to bite them if for no other reason than laziness with the timesheets.

Frankly they should have been pinged when they stripped the MLAs of staff.

Those staff are not paid for by us for the greater glory of the Liberal party, they’re supposed to be assisting the MLA’s help the people they’ve been elected to represent.

It should be the people we’ve elected getting “out in the community” on our dime, not the party president.

Has the CT asked him? As I said, today was the first time I have ever heard of Elias Hallaj and 5 other people I asked have never heard of him either. Two people thought he owned a F&V shop.
I am “moderately confident” that Labor under Stanhope knew about the arrangements so the current kerfuffle is just a timely smokescreen attempt to hide the impact of the budget defecit.
If being “lazy with timesheets” is a crime then amassing a $180 million budget deficit must be a hanging offence.
Apart from us fellow Rioters, a few ABC Radio listeners and the declining CT subscriber base, no one is really interested in this sideshow anymore. If anything, it reinforces why ACT residents voted twice 25 years ago, for no self-government.

Holden Caulfield2:11 pm 21 Feb 12

Maybe Tio is Mr Gillespie.

johnboy said :

It should be the people we’ve elected getting “out in the community” on our dime, not the party president.

well, according to zed’s comments to ross solly this morning, this is what happens, which is why these organisations had heard of / recalled the name of a ‘mere staffer’… and i liked one txter into the show who said he was a small business owner and had never met or heard of the community organisation represetnative ‘representing him’ – classic!

‘tio’ and ‘zed’ – and they wonder why there is a disconnect with the community at large..? 🙂

but really, why should we not be satisfied with zed’s confirmation that his staff have actually been working, irrespective of the paucity of their timesheets? this is a man in whose hands a goodly chunk of the community would [more or less] happily place the adminsitration of the whole territory…

dungfungus said :

Why don’t you ask him?

Well I’m moderately confident he is not.

The problem here is Zed’s mob thought they were being very clever with these innovations and it’s coming back to bite them if for no other reason than laziness with the timesheets.

Frankly they should have been pinged when they stripped the MLAs of staff.

Those staff are not paid for by us for the greater glory of the Liberal party, they’re supposed to be assisting the MLA’s help the people they’ve been elected to represent.

It should be the people we’ve elected getting “out in the community” on our dime, not the party president.

johnboy said :

Is Elias drawing a staffer’s salary DF?

Why don’t you ask him?

Is Elias drawing a staffer’s salary DF?

bd84 said :

Perhaps the CT should be looking at what exactly the advisors and staff of all members do instead of continuing to give one side of the story. I noted that Labor and the Greens voted down the valid request that any time recording audit be extended to all members.. It stinks a bit of the government holding on to government for dear life when they won’t extend the same transparency to themselves, particularly when I think similar problems were noted with all members’ record keeping last time this was looked at a few years back. I’d place money on some questionable practices existing across the assembly.

And just who is Tio Faulkner’s equivalent at the ACT Branch of the ALP? They do not appear to have a specific job title such as “Director of Electorate Services” but Elections ACT advise that the registered person for electorate matters in the ALP is an Elias Hallaj who according to the website of ACT Labor has an office in 222 City Walk, Civic. Elias Hallaj is also the Secretary of the ALP in the ACT and I understand his “other” office is in Torrens Street, Braddon. So, what is the perceived “dual role” problem?
Pity the Canberra Times didn’t ask all the community groups who Elias Hallaj is. I had never heard of him until today.

LOL at the Canberra Times canvassing community groups to see if they knew who Faulkner is.

I’d suggest if they did the same for the rest of the MLA’s and their staff the result would be nearly identical.

Looks like someone at the Times watched “All The President’s Men” last week…

Methinks Zed is gone.

I always felt General Zod was a bit of an asterisk until the Libs could find someone electable for the next race anyway.

Should we rejoice that the Canberra Time is finally doing something that looks remotely like journalism? Does it mean that all those stories of improper conduct (in all its shades of meanings) by government might now be worth reporting? Let the floodgates open and get some real reporting in this town, on all political parties.

Why is it hard to believe that only one staffer in one office is not squeaky clean?

Perhaps the CT should be looking at what exactly the advisors and staff of all members do instead of continuing to give one side of the story. I noted that Labor and the Greens voted down the valid request that any time recording audit be extended to all members.. It stinks a bit of the government holding on to government for dear life when they won’t extend the same transparency to themselves, particularly when I think similar problems were noted with all members’ record keeping last time this was looked at a few years back. I’d place money on some questionable practices existing across the assembly.

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