Bureaubrats

Leaks from the top

2012-01-29T20:08:00.000-08:00

We all know Sir Humphrey- he's back in town .But do we really know him ?
Do the young buck advisors know him or just think they know him ? One of his riskiest strategies was leaking stuff . He would have his reason - he knew what he was doing, or at least he would have colleagues in the lounge who would understand why he did what he did. Not so the advisor this week who let the personal grow into a predictable fire . .
Like it or lump it Sir Humphrey was smart enough to know that his personal emotions must never show and infact must generally be sat on - waiting for next time . ( Partnership episode)
The leak this week in Australia by The PM's staff seems to demonstrate a new morality new age element . Politicians on the left may not talk about it much, but many know its hanging around inside the top office; A lack of self control and a little too much self righteousness ;The end justifies the means , If the leader/ cause is a bad one , what stops you setting up retaliation ( .The question of motivation could well be asked of Tony Hodges ?
Sir H liked to think he knew what he was doing BUT he usually checked with the oldies . Money on the fact that the leak giver checked with no one. Julia's forthright advisers are valued for their gamesmanship ; the cost maybe that , like sheep in wolves territory , they don't always really know what they are doing and they don't fear the wolf ( the real spirit of democracy including respect for the rules of respect for people ? )
Its one thing to allow a meeting to be stacked , but another to give advice to allow a group to do it: a group whom any sensible person could see could cause a loss of control in what must be a peaceful demonstration.; What emotion clouded his judgement ? Does any emotion cloud SirH judgement? Checks and balances? Was anger the excuse and the fire that wasn't quenched by reason and reasonability ?

Some wider lateral questions here

Green clones to plough the fields and scatter

2011-03-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

Carbon farming legislation
As if to demonstrate the danger of ignoring the implementation question over the ideas , both parties have been tripping over themselves today to announce a revamped soil sequestration incentive ( Greg Combey at 12pm today and Greg Hunt on ABC lateline 23rd ) Taking one to know one they know the idea but not yet how to implement it - seriously dangerous .
-.we don't need more bureaubrats.. Tax fuel abusers (eg 4WD) and give sequesters a decent excise
- As if farmers don't already have enough single focused greenclones talkin to them bout things they don't understand
-The earth is able to sustain itself .A coalition of low integrity and accountability wants us to take them seriuosly No
-Only trade unions would think they would be able to tell farmers when they need to be paid and how much
-Always inventing new stuff and talking to solutions in name only shocking #abcenvironment #lateline

Real hoods but dressed like Robin

2011-02-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Neil Mitchell is aghast that our water bills are doubled and is rightly concerned about how such pathetic projects like the desal plant get up .
Well, he, like the rest of Victoria need to be very clear about how this stupidity got past the gatekeepers; Holdings gate keepers hadn't any keys . The young and inexperienced public servants who advise the dummies in charge think they are doing a great job - they think they have landed a job with Robin Hood when the modus operandi is the castle .
Instead of being vulnerable, these white knights are invisible and have consultants calling on them to help them spend the windfall of riches they have acquired. Lets' be clear , they all think " we "pay too little for some commodities and have fallen for the motivation logic that ' we will only appreciate something if we pay more for it" . ( true whether these high priests live in Canberra Melbourne or Sydney )

Voters must recognise that Queen Julia's and Prince Brumbys men have been dressing up like Robin Hood for decades . They get away with more taxes because they are "robbing the bad to pay the good " - We are expected to accept that they are ones who are "doing us good" . But the main outcome they are going to get bigger castles http:// bureaubrats.blogspot.com and tell us how to live (http:// nannyism.blogspot.com)
Voters : tell them give us our freedom and stop pretending they have a mandate to spend our money how they like.

Dreamy Young bucks

2010-08-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

On the hustings yesterday I made the point to many across the political spectrum that the fine ambitions of many to do something for the environment ( most of us ) MUST adopt and now still find a competency base for these fine ambitions.
I was well qualified to prove the point locally and made those points about what's happened around Apollo bay and the Otway's and beyond over the last 15 years .
The point is , while Julia's advisors may be well intentioned , they do not know what they are talking about it . They are good at focusing on the image ( a fiction and moving feast) and crap on content .As a Woolworths chairman said , we are not short of ideas , just people to implement them .
If I am right , then the young bucks cannot be included in a cutting edge conservation push because they break without confession , the golden rule of conservation "short term gain, long term pain" .

All governments are only as good as the advice they get , and Labors' one term failure is largely down to that problem. The greens too can talk, but the wind still moves the light things on. You heard it first on blogger aug Sunday 22nd , 2010. Copyright Emperors Academy

Why do they have to keep changing things ?

2010-05-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

Cause the leaders keep changing direction too. Therefore its not entirely the fault of BB . You have to have leadership that is not to clever ( doesn't have its identity tied up in invention rather than completion ) and respects cleverness in the club .
But more importantly, because somePS 's are clever and indutriuos , they have time too to be petty.You can't cut the numbers ( unless you are a miracle worker) but you can give them something worthwhile to do.

While we have polys that run around like skun cats thinking of ideas , we have PS who meddle with minor things casue they have been given a low horizon agenda - by default. What do you think ?

The new millenuem will reveal the paradox of good governance - that its dependant on the quality of both the PS and the Polys . While we cultivate a low view of them both we will get what we believe them to be .

Why do bureaucracies keep growing?

2010-05-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

Are the problems getting harder? . Surely the growth of the nanny state suggests otherwise. How much would the overall mental health of our society improve if we got rid of the people who are technically " here to help you but don't seem to hear ".
Why does Brumby ( Victoria, Australia) allow so much of our money to go into TV and paper Ads which tell us how to suck eggs . The children may be in charge, , but Thankfully , not all the audience/people are children. Or are we?
Got something to do with the fact that real leadership is tough and lonely and the bureau is a nice warm place where we get on rather than get on with that sort of job -or that sort of person ?
What do you think ?

One way to keep them from multiplying

2010-03-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Well there must be many ways open to God , but one of the few open to mortals is to target waste in Duckshoving .(DS)

Apparently this great aussie word was coined to refer to duck like behavior as early as 1870 .The ducks appear to be inline and going the same way . But there are early indications of ladder climbing efforts - the cue is getting a little ragged at the back ?,
Look at their eyes, especially at the back. Looks can be decieving . "Yes Minister" and all that . What you really need to know is what they are thinking and what else they can see. Which one are you most like ?

The only way to avoid DS is to make sure people at the bottom make decisions and remind your troops you are not ducks or old dogs ( that you can't learn new new ways)
This "I'm just a stupid animal excuse" is dumb ducks from the pseudoinnocence songbook.

Dealing with duckshoving : Sounds so simple , you would think it was obviuos , wouldn't you .
Solution 1 --No more strategy documents and other deviations .
Scene 1 The Castle Cabinet room ;(requests for help to make decisions are becoming a problem )
"What do they think we are up here to do " - " we are not the experts" . Sir Humphrey's view is probably slightly different
"Its their job to fight the war
Our job to defend the castle

The help messages folder is getting overloaded .
The castle has become full of people filing and answering correspondence ."
No more decisions are made , but we all very ........very busy
Copyright EA march 2010

When blaming a bureaucrat maybe just too easy

2009-06-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Russell Rees,Waller or some other persons with some authority, could well be the fall guys from the Royal Commission into the Victorian 2009 Bushfires, leaving some other members who should be focused on for their poor decision making in the clear. More importantly the main objective of why better decisions weren't made won't be the focus .
The really big problem is that our leaders are into quickfix - growing the response services BUT not the proper planning services.
The point is the fires were an uncontrollable risk and you will find fault everywhere - the point of the RC should be on poor procedure, not the blame game - poor process ofetn pushes responsibility up higher ( and lower) than is often the focus. That's a lot of people - how many should the inquiry be interviewing to get the picture?

If there is no proper process review ( and changes) there is point in allowing the blame game to risk getting out of control. Will the enquiry find out how processes can be improved when the obfiscation risks are hardly known.
If I didn't think we risk great injustice here, this blog would not exist .
For a more detailed review of this current controversy click Here

What a great idea minister

2009-06-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

You never heard it? because you never will hear it said in his presence
Ministers get suspiciuos hearing what sounds like hype when they are surrounded by so much of it.
So, what happens to encourage him when HE has a really good idea. (one that can benefit both Parties ).
We should be worried - call in the wolf busters right away.
As for Wise Intelligent Members of Parliament ( who are wimps in name only), fortunately for them - they don't have to rely on all the noise makers - they can just blog ! Wow ......thanks blogger !

Finding a better power to weight ratio

2009-06-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

The most frightening thing to watch ( means lots of waste, duckshoving and indecision ) IS when an authority is stressed by its responsibilities is to watch them grow.- carelessly
Even with field focused HODS ( heads of department) the risk is their departmnets will fill up with people who pass the buck and the PC
The culling of such hidden obfuscation elements is really difficult because ther are genuinely good reasons for the people - if not always the process and the talking points .

All institations in crisis should probably be asked not" how many" but how few do you need "- then at least the emperor wpould have some idea of who is hiding where -. I would be really tough on ministerial advisers , and if no heads are appearing near the top - expect PC and cartharsis ( including ministry loss) as the only solutions . say no more !

Have some sympathy for stressed departmens, but don't assume they need more power . Maybe they are holding onto power too closely
see the dilemma of Vic government over the incident control systems for bushfires .

Art rather than science

2009-04-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

PJ ORourke had a point we sure need a laugh - the world has become far too religious for its own good
Didn't go far enough thogh - naming solutions is not the same as creating real comedy .
According to O' Rourke we are suffering under a dictatorship of boredom. In other words, every public issue and policy, every regulation, piece of legislation, executive act, and joint resolution is made so complicated, obfuscatory, and tedious that, as P J. puts it, "the regular people get hopelessly confused, as though they'd fallen a month behind in their high school algebra class."

How true so what about you - where is the starting point ?

Is there really away to get rid of the problem ?

2008-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

If only there was . I hope you are familiar with Churchill's words on the subject of democracy . Only then can you be effective in keeping some balance . Point is -its not about removal or revolution but reform - inspired reform .
Its about the devil you know and living with it rather that the DYDK

This is a true "politicians problem" , but lets not have politicians logic
(from A Jay )That is "We need a solution. This is a solution . so let's take it"

No you don't get rid of the problem that easily.

First of all the above solution is part of the really big problem .
Secondly, power abuse is such a common and dissipating and debilitating force that it IS probably any public institutions biggest problem. It even stops people from doing the jobs they are paid ,trained and were once effective in doing!!!!! ( SEE POSTING on The survey of old staff ON yES MINISTER)
What about the traditional methods ? PUSH ,STARVE OR SIDEWAYS ? maybe

Hopefully a posting here soon. Don't give up waiting. If you have suffered at the hands of power abuse, let me remind you that ----yes its real , pathetic and totally unfair, but it happens and those of us who fall foul of it need to find new ways to be effective DESPITE the incredibly dissipating reality that it is .
And of course ---Well done to you ! you have probably joined the club of those esteemed persons who don't give up, even when your legs and hands have been cut off !Hopefully you still have a brain ! Use it here!

Someone has to die - and even then

2007-07-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

...The bureaucracy can claim its not responsible and get away with it. This ought not to be so !
Ten years ago (on this day), Australia's biggest environmental disaster happened under the noses of an NSW env department. The same department claimed on ABC news today that "you are now very safe in our hands" .
That's the trouble , the bureaucarcy is more powerful than the polys . When the stockade state history is written i won't be surprised to learn that the bureau beat bracks and thwaites or at least they beat each other in the end . At least kennett took the bureau problem seriously ( if not the solution - they take a bit of beating-- ask anyone who works with them!!!)

Where is 4 corners when you need them? Off on a nother predictable witch hunt in big business and ignoring the subtle corruption of the bureau? Both have power but whose watching the eternal activism of the well healed cf those who have to sell their souls to stay in power ?
Where are the astute reporters willing to earn an easy Walkely award? There must be some great words to go on in the reports on that little block of land in the bush.

With Tasmanians in a huge mess with their EIS ( Lennon is being led along like many polys on sus science on this ) , You just have to ask whether the env court , or all the planning reports, actually work . Are there are any different ways to have things sorted Where is the one page summary of substance - is noone allowed to be so responsible? Have things in sus science got any better 10 years on?

What's wrong with this country when you have to read 10000 pages before you can judge whether a pulp mill is going to be manageable in the Tamar valley . The air seems to be Ok (despite the waffle) so give us one page on manageing the water pollution and wood supply issues- can't be that hard surely.

If you think this waste is taswegains problem why did the Bracks govet spend millions and waste huge amounts of time delieberating over the dredging of the bay channel .

Sus science is about investing in the far future.But pol science is about settling the dust - the cloding out and the crouding out problems . To get the reactionaries and fearmongers to shut up and get the people settled ( it can be done because 10000 pages feeds a lot of chooks), ........the bureau must brief you on the basics . Did they in tasssie, did they on the channel did they on the murray darling . Can they? if they can't why can't they ?
After all , its a simple as risk science really is . You just have to have some sus scientists - mr brumby mr lennon mr turnbull
When sea level rises and ships get bigger ( sails) , the little digger woories won't even figure.
Is the glass half full or half empty? - ask a risk scientist , not a 10000 page report !

Helping ministers make better decisions

2007-01-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

As Anthony Jay so well observed it is SIMPLY not possible to help a minister if he listens to advice from those he clones too closely .

Victorian premiers, both present and past, do not yet realise they have done this and it will cost them credibility and public service competence dearly in the long term . No more so than in the loss of credible processes for environmental planning .
The problem is endemic because both the conservatives and the left have fallen for the post modern myth of progress - "whats new is better" when infact western profgress is based on " building on the past "
You can't have you cake and eat it here because there is only so many tentacles you can feed .
Add to that is the dilemma of not having a diversity of opinion - _ if you completely discouarge "the dinasaurs".
No diversity of advice. The feds new water scheme has been dreamed up in a soup of confusion created by trying the ever change technique to change the peasants. I mean, will handouts or pressure teach people to use water wisely????? - 1.5 Bilion dollars worth of careless hype and patronage and mr howard and turnbull can't even see it for what it is - a dogs breakfast of ideas with implementors who DO NOT KNOW how to make it happen !You heard it first from emperors academy

Been there done that

2006-09-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

Feels good to finally get it out .The thing is I have worked within govt for 30yrs . The bad news is that govt are nessaary despite their limits .The good news is that we probably deal with some of the out of control element here today . Join in and help make democracy work .