Ron's Rant by Ron
Don't get me started . . . . I am sick and tired of our media always referring to “The Government” whenever they set out to blame some lame politician or political party. "The Government" has done this wrong or “Our Government” has done that wrong, this or that minister should be sacked. Our media pointing their bony fingers at the political party or politician rather than scratching the surface and digging a little deeper looking for the real culprits. The truth is that politicians are here today and gone tomorrow. While they are seen as the power that is steering our ship, they actually only have a short time at the wheel and are only in it for an opportunistic politically motivated ego manic good time... Not a long time. Driving our nation forever forward are our Public Servants.
When people refer to “The Government’ what they are often referring to is our public service system. The real engine room of our country that is tasked with running our nation for the long term, navigating and planning for our future, implementing changes and identifying and planning for future challenges, proactively defending our nation from potential threats and embracing potential opportunities.
Unfortunately this engine room has broken down. It is no longer fit for the purpose it was conceived for. The ongoing COVID fiasco has highlighted the shortfalls of our Public Service. It has become a moribund, dumbed down and bloated entity that does very little, very slowly. Brain dead and rotting, this system feeds off our taxes, unable to predict the future needs of our nation, unable to make decisions and is totally bogged down with indecision and an no ability to efficiently implement change. At every level, Federal, State and Local, the system is overpaid, underworked and not providing our community the value that it rightly deserves. Our public service operates in a parallel universe to the rest of us hardworking taxpaying soldiers. They live in a world so devoid of commercial reality, they run to their own tune at a glacial pace. They are hindered by their own internal politics, overloaded with meetings, stifled by internal systems and neutered with growing political correctness that slows activity by binding any action for fear of offending anyone or anything.
Where has our brains trust gone? We once were a self sufficient nation where our public service actually produced goods and services. The Gas and Fuel, PMG, Comm Bank, Board of Works, SEC to name a few government run institutions that looked after its people by providing the necessary basic services that made our country great, only to be sold off piecemeal for a pittance to fund the short-term whims of greedy politicians. In turn, we lost a lot of clever, proactive and talented public servants that cared for the good of their fellow community and were not motivated by greed and political point scoring.They had important jobs to do that benefited our nation at every level Federal, State and locally. These Public Servants were doers that had a job to do and did it well.
Our system is now broken and is a bureaucratic, paper shuffling, do little, bloated rats nest of overpaid hordes, who shuffle around creating useless reports, doling out billions to the snouts in the trough private sector that actually do the work … even report writing. Our Public Servants can't even manage these projects without blowouts costing taxpayers billions more that they should be paying, with little concern for this mismanagement. In the private sector this would not happen and heads would roll, but our untouchable and unaccountable Public Servants don't suffer the same fate and live in their own rarefied air of impunity. They simply protect themselves by pointing the finger at their here today, gone tomorrow “Political Masters”.
Why do we put up with this? Where is the accountability? I say to our media stop being so lazy and do your job by digging a little deeper and finding the real truth rather than some superficial headline grabbing puffery. Without seeking to be protective of our politicians let's be realistic about who is really running our country and call out the real culprits.
From a local perspective I have seen how our own Councillors are manipulated and used to rubber stamp agendas and initiatives of our local government. Councillors are only there to protect the jobs of the 900 or so employees of The City of Port Phillip serving as their scapegoats. They have their own self serving internal agendas and political biases… Rather than serving their communities needs and wishes they follow their own path. Having stacked the deck in their own favour they make up their own rules to how things should be run. Did you know that a Councillor cannot even talk to a council employee and is mandated to go through the CEO or senior management? The system has evolved to "go slow” and do very little more. Is it any wonder why things take so long through council?
Don't get me started but our PUBLIC SERVICE is broken. They should be providing service to the public. Not the other way around.
