I have not posted for a while, so it’s time for a bit of a rant about the state of NSW I’m afraid, given Bob Carr's statement that he intends to stay on and fight the next election.
Whereas I do not want to offend anyone, much of what I say will be devoid of any political correctness, sorry.
The problem is the lunatics have taken over the asylum. I see the level of stupidity and incompetence that permeates through our Government today, a level that I thought was hitherto the preserve of large faceless and bureaucratic corporations. This is the kind of stupidity where only bean-counters can be involved. You see, this is it; numbers have taken over our society, not standards, but numbers.
I wonder if this has anything to do with our bean-counter-in-chief for the last 10 years – Michael Egan (our self-proclaimed great treasurer who has been running "surpluses" over the past 10 years and taking credit for it ever since). He will continue to "achieve" this now that he has changed the way surpluses are measured by hiding most government spending from the accounts.
Numbers are everywhere: 1000 extra police officers, 5000 extra nurses, 1000 extra operations, hospital waiting list number down, number of peak-hour trains up, 100% of high-school pupils passing the HSC, number of coal-fired power stations and greenhouse gases up, number of politicians up, majority in parliament up, number of protests up, number of freedoms down. All these targets and yet, the one thing they all ignore is standards.
Not so long ago, people who aspired to join the Public Service had to pass rigorous entry exams. Today, we can see from the NSW Public Service (too many examples to quote) that you merely have to fulfil some kind of quota. Incompetence has become an epidemic as a result.
We may have more doctors and nurses, but we also have more people getting infections in hospitals, coming out in a worse state than they went in (if they acually manage to get in given the current state of our emergency departments). This is mostly due to lack of hygiene STANDARDS in our hospitals. In days gone by the hospital staff would have been told in no uncertain terms what level of hygiene, cleanliness, service, and care was expected of them. Today however, such basic tasks are too demeaning for the present generation of staff who are managed by those who are more interested in short-term political goals, rather than doing what benefits patients. All public services in NSW are about producing good numbers for the government nowadays, STANDARDS mean nothing.
Anyone who visits here and walks through any street in any street in Sydney will be astounded at the state of our litter-strewn streets, chewing-gum covered pavements, Bill-posters on vacant shops (especially ones near Westfield shopping centres), vandalised bus shelters and phone booths, and general bad-manners. However, our local council's have much higher priorities than cleaning up this mess, and preventing it re-occurring.
I want to be a part of a society that rewards and encourages responsibility. Responsibility is a dirty-word in NSW nowadays (unless prefixed with social). Nobody is responsible for anything anymore. Someone else is always to blame. From the planners at Liverpool council "wrongly approving" Orange Grove, to Jeff Shaw's blood sample going missing.
Nobody is responsible for their own actions – except Nabil Gazal.
Standards are in terminal decline. What example does the Government set in this context? Well, they pay has-been's and cronies like Neville Wran $1500 a day to run pointless inquiries - job's for the boys.
As we speak, our rights and freedoms are being undermined. Our legal system is begining to emulate that of Nazi Germany in the name of populist "terrorism legislation". Our prisons are overcrowded and out of control and are among the easiest places to buy, use and sells drugs and firearms anywhere in NSW. There are actually some Labor MPs who disagree with Carr on these issues but they, devoid of any principle, keep walking through the Aye's lobby only to stay elected.
In 2007, we can look forward to another election victory by Carr. By this time we will probably have run out of water, done away with trains and be pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere by burning more coal in our power stations than ever before, but we will be too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to care.
Whereas I do not want to offend anyone, much of what I say will be devoid of any political correctness, sorry.
The problem is the lunatics have taken over the asylum. I see the level of stupidity and incompetence that permeates through our Government today, a level that I thought was hitherto the preserve of large faceless and bureaucratic corporations. This is the kind of stupidity where only bean-counters can be involved. You see, this is it; numbers have taken over our society, not standards, but numbers.
I wonder if this has anything to do with our bean-counter-in-chief for the last 10 years – Michael Egan (our self-proclaimed great treasurer who has been running "surpluses" over the past 10 years and taking credit for it ever since). He will continue to "achieve" this now that he has changed the way surpluses are measured by hiding most government spending from the accounts.
Numbers are everywhere: 1000 extra police officers, 5000 extra nurses, 1000 extra operations, hospital waiting list number down, number of peak-hour trains up, 100% of high-school pupils passing the HSC, number of coal-fired power stations and greenhouse gases up, number of politicians up, majority in parliament up, number of protests up, number of freedoms down. All these targets and yet, the one thing they all ignore is standards.
Not so long ago, people who aspired to join the Public Service had to pass rigorous entry exams. Today, we can see from the NSW Public Service (too many examples to quote) that you merely have to fulfil some kind of quota. Incompetence has become an epidemic as a result.
We may have more doctors and nurses, but we also have more people getting infections in hospitals, coming out in a worse state than they went in (if they acually manage to get in given the current state of our emergency departments). This is mostly due to lack of hygiene STANDARDS in our hospitals. In days gone by the hospital staff would have been told in no uncertain terms what level of hygiene, cleanliness, service, and care was expected of them. Today however, such basic tasks are too demeaning for the present generation of staff who are managed by those who are more interested in short-term political goals, rather than doing what benefits patients. All public services in NSW are about producing good numbers for the government nowadays, STANDARDS mean nothing.
Anyone who visits here and walks through any street in any street in Sydney will be astounded at the state of our litter-strewn streets, chewing-gum covered pavements, Bill-posters on vacant shops (especially ones near Westfield shopping centres), vandalised bus shelters and phone booths, and general bad-manners. However, our local council's have much higher priorities than cleaning up this mess, and preventing it re-occurring.
I want to be a part of a society that rewards and encourages responsibility. Responsibility is a dirty-word in NSW nowadays (unless prefixed with social). Nobody is responsible for anything anymore. Someone else is always to blame. From the planners at Liverpool council "wrongly approving" Orange Grove, to Jeff Shaw's blood sample going missing.
Nobody is responsible for their own actions – except Nabil Gazal.
Standards are in terminal decline. What example does the Government set in this context? Well, they pay has-been's and cronies like Neville Wran $1500 a day to run pointless inquiries - job's for the boys.
As we speak, our rights and freedoms are being undermined. Our legal system is begining to emulate that of Nazi Germany in the name of populist "terrorism legislation". Our prisons are overcrowded and out of control and are among the easiest places to buy, use and sells drugs and firearms anywhere in NSW. There are actually some Labor MPs who disagree with Carr on these issues but they, devoid of any principle, keep walking through the Aye's lobby only to stay elected.
In 2007, we can look forward to another election victory by Carr. By this time we will probably have run out of water, done away with trains and be pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere by burning more coal in our power stations than ever before, but we will be too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to care.
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