tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post2741462609610208768..comments2024-03-29T04:12:15.091+11:00Comments on loon pond: In which the pond insists on a Speccie treat to match its ramen-flavoured Oreo ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-33194392977302302132018-02-25T08:21:31.994+11:002018-02-25T08:21:31.994+11:00I imagine that Malcolm Fraser was quite happy with...I imagine that Malcolm Fraser was quite happy with the advice he got from the likes of John Stone and subsequently BoBork and Keating were very happy with the econorat advice from the "Productivity" Commission.<br /><br />But I suppose Reith just had to look elsewhere for advice on how to destroy the Maritime Workers Union - don't reckon the Fed Pubserve would have been quite up to that.<br /><br />And not quite sure I'd want to have a Pubserve that was the primary source of advice on ideological preferences and political policies. Separation of responsibilities - the Pubserve is responsible for advice on 'How' but not on 'What' - might indicate a 'parallel system' as necessary.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-7956516813883024522018-02-24T15:48:07.750+11:002018-02-24T15:48:07.750+11:00The parallel system didn't start under Howard,...The parallel system didn't start under Howard, but it did explode under him. The number of people employed directly by politicians and parties was trivial until the 90's and the concerted campaign run by Peter Reith to dismantle the federal public service as a functioning entity.FrankDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-25572581966515289122018-02-24T15:27:30.775+11:002018-02-24T15:27:30.775+11:00Hmm, well I guess the balmy days of Nugget Coombs ...Hmm, well I guess the balmy days of Nugget Coombs and Roland Wilson are long gone. More recently we've had the likes of John Stone.<br /><br />But then I always understood that the 'real' public service had become politicised - by osmosis apparently - during the long "Liberal" reign from 1949 to 1972*, and that Gough had had to 'cleanse' the institution somewhat. Which, in the usual 'pretend everything is the opposite of what it really is' style of the Right Wingnuts was counted as Whitlam, in fact, 'politicisung' the Federal Pubserve.<br /><br />So where exactly did John Winston get into the act ?<br /><br />* Otherwise known as the long Wingnut march through the institutions.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-84800499979796981152018-02-24T11:53:00.893+11:002018-02-24T11:53:00.893+11:00As Flinty's imagined golden era recedes furthe...As Flinty's imagined golden era recedes further into the past, he seems to go back even further again. He's like Merlin, aging backwards. What he wants here are Commissions of Oyer and Terminer, an 800 year old English institution with the small fault that they were made redundant by legal changes early in Queen Victoria's reign. I'd have thought Flinty would approve of an ICAC - the reptiles keep comparing it to a Star Chamber, an even older English institution.<br /><br />Let's just gloss over the fact that the problem he correctly identifies started on the watch of his idol, John Winston Howard, who hated the "proper" public service because they insisted on repeatedly telling him that it wasn't the 1950's any more.FrankDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-71906976154799593662018-02-24T04:23:18.443+11:002018-02-24T04:23:18.443+11:00"It was Flinty week at the Speccie!"
Ya..."<i>It was Flinty week at the Speccie</i>!"<br /><br />Yay !! And don't his clear recollections and sharp observations put all those other slithering reptiles to shame.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-58708566964136167172018-02-23T20:37:29.025+11:002018-02-23T20:37:29.025+11:00Can't find any way to contact the pond but jus...Can't find any way to contact the pond but just would like to let you know that Sharri Markson claims credit for this and Media Watch agrees https://twitter.com/TrueCrimeWeeklyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-77449656619449208912018-02-23T19:10:45.766+11:002018-02-23T19:10:45.766+11:00*whew* - that was close! To my horror, I briefly ...*whew* - that was close! To my horror, I briefly found myself nodding in agreement with Flinty's comments on Ministerial advisors (Admission - I'm a one-time mainstream public servant), and even if you take the "a stopped clock is still right twice a day" view, that's a terrifying feeling. Fortunately, Davo quickly moved onto his standard territory, appearing to believe that this was both a recent phenomenon and confined to Australia, and thus the fault of leets, and then making a mighty leap of logic (far beyond the understanding of my feeble intellect) to concerns about the protocol of a decades-ago state visit to Indonesia (or, in Flinty-speak, the Dutch East Indies). I'm not quite sure what that was all about - something to do with who should have worn the largest lace ruff? - but I'm sure that Flinty was correct in his interpretation, and the funny little foreign people were wrong. If only they'd had the good sense to remain under a Monarchy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com