In 1906, the first Public Service Commissioner, Mr D McLachlan, observed that:
The great incentive, which is ever present to the businessman, is, by the very nature of things, absent in public administration. The department of the Civil Service which he administers (or assists in administering) is not his own; he suffers no personal loss; he enjoys no personal gain; and why should he bother? Why should he incur the odium of his subordinates by enforcing strict discipline and insisting on continuous and undivided attention to duty? Why should he addle his brain and burn the midnight oil in studying the literature of other nations for improved methods when he gets no special thanks for it, but probably finds himself in the end for little better off financially than if he had allowed things to drift along in the old way? These are the questions commonly put to himself by the perfunctory official and they constitute one very potent reason why Civil Service administration has not attained the high state of efficiency that the public interest demands'
On 01 Mar 2008 Alex Mitchell, New Free Kid on the Blog, writes | The Australian Financial Review | Alex Mitchell is the former state political editor of The Sun-Herald and former president of the NSW parliamentary press gallery. The Labor Party in NSW has bred a particular type of political animal, and they're running the show, argues Alex Mitchell. A state of disgrace
Beyond the surrealistic headline: Is Old South Wales: Ripe for a revolution? The battle to break Britain's crime lords
Career criminals used to treat a spell in prison as an occupational hazard, confident that they would soon be revelling in their ill-gotten gains. Now the police are seizing millions in assets, from racehorses to holiday homes. But are they making a dent in crime’s £18 billion annual bill?
Experienced policemen are hard to shock. You name it, they’ve seen it, bagged it or banged it up. In April 2005, however, squads from four Midland forces, making a crack-of-dawn “swoop” near Market Harborough, were treated to a sight which, as one officer puts it 2½ years later, “still makes my jaw drop”.
On the dot of half past six, 350 officers from Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire raided a number of local addresses, including seven on the Justin Park travellers’ site, where they had “reason to believe” some shady deals were being made. “Operation Lucky” was what they called it, and they couldn’t have chosen better. It didn’t take them long. In a scene reminiscent of Treasure Island, they dug into a traveller family’s garden and levered out a weighty, lozenge-shaped parcel trussed with gaffer tape. Their own video shows an officer tearing at it like a child on Christmas morning.
• Experienced policemen are hard to shock. ; [Trust the Charitable cuases? £234bn of mortgages put in trusts supposedly for the benefit of good causes ; The spectacle of tax inspectors pursuing Germany's richest citizens may bolster faith in the rule of law Specter of haven not; Liechtenstein Germany paid for tax secrets Story of tax lives ]
• · Wollongong - Conman 'can't recall' impersonating ICAC officer Allegations of sex and corruption take centre stage ; It has bold proportions, amazing performance and the jaunty lines of broad-shouldered good looks. It is the power that won't corrupt. Grunt in the Gong: it's not all about sex
• · · The owner of the kebab shop where Wollongong power brokers met each morning at a so-called "Table of Knowledge" just wants the media to go away 'Table of Knowledge' kebab man stews ; Whatever happened to the real news? It now seems to come with helping or two of what can only be described as trivia or gossip. Selling out political celebrities
• · The US is notable among major nations in how little it has suffered in foreign wars. Shedding blood for liberty; 'The Australian' wears its heart on its sleeve and remains an ideologically-driven publication with a long history of campaigning behind it. Advocacy or analysis? A retrospective on 'The Australian'