Rhonda Miller Announces Retirement Today

Any survivor has more to say than all the historians combined about what happened. 
-Elie Wiesel 

In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot ...~  John Hatton paraphrasing Czeslaw Milosz  Biography of John Hatton AO - The Little Bloke That Could ...

This week was peppered with the blasts from the past.

People don’t mind inequality due to “brute luck”…but is one man’s brute luck another man’s rigged corrupt system? Popular acceptance of inequality due to brute luck 🍀

“Voodoo Science in the Courtroom: The U.S. has relied on flawed forensic-evidence techniques for decades, falsely convicting many” [Alex Kozinski, WSJ; ABA Journal] “Highest court in Massachusetts throws out another shaken-baby syndrome conviction” [Radley Balko on Boston Globe]

I caught up with Marlene Knowles at the St Vincent Private Hospital as she had undergone an operation. Marlene and I started work as Library technicians at the NSW Parliamentary Library on the same day 29 November 1982. The recruitment process was grilling as the selection panel was bigger than Ben Hur panel Dr Cope in charge with four other librarians.

It was probably the best kept secret, however, among the insiders the power struggle relationships between lower house and upper house management used be described in The Cold War River  analogies - there was a huge wide river of divide another analogy of Berlin Wall (with spies in the PAC e. al ;) between the department was also used ... When Rhonda became the Clerk of the lower house or peasant house (Johno's saying) the Velvet revolution took place as new Clerks  sorted out all the differences that tend to take place in organisational fiefdoms  where egos take over the agency's vision ...

I learnt from Marlene as well as David Blunt today that Rhonda Miller is retiring from the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly role and the reliable attendant Ian Thackeray promised to pass my best wishes in her retirement. Like me, Rhonda became an infomaniac as she also worked in the Library Newspaper clippings section and it is so easy to get addicted to information and news. She is a rare character as she also worked for the Attorney Generals of NSW who came from Labour (Terry Shehan) and Liberal (John Dowd) parties. That is a rather unique feast as not many ministers employ staff who worked for the political opponents.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. (According to Robert and Shel,) You are already naked.There is no reason not to follow your heart

The SPEAKER: I welcome to the gallery the friends and family of Ronda Miller, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, who is retiring tomorrow. I welcome in particular her husband, Rob Sutton, and her beautiful daughter, Anna Anna. I also welcome Clerk Emeritus Russell Grove and former Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms Greg Kelly Tribute to Rhonda Miller 22 September 2016 AD

Time flies as not so long ago (November 2011) Rhonda Miller became a first female Clerk of the NSW Parliament Legislative Assembly

The Clerk is the head of the Department of Legislative Assembly  and the principal adviser to the Speaker on procedural issues and the operation of the Chamber.

via Rose Bay School:

 We were also given a talk from Ms Rhonda Miller who is the clerk for the Legislative Assembly and she encouraged us to be more assertive to "break through the door rather than getting a foot in it," realise that we are good enough and that we are the only ones holding ourselves back. There was no denying that yes it may be harder for women to achieve the same success as men but we must not let this stop us from trying.

We were also confronted with some very disturbing statistics, which has shown the pay gap getting worse, and less female members of Parliament. But there was one unanimous conclusion we were able to come to which is, we are the next generation of leaders and it is in our hands to change the way society sees women and break through the barriers that have been holding back justice and equality on all fronts.

We found this seminar to be empowering and think it is something that will change the attitudes of young men and women. Young Women’s Leadership Conference

MILLER George Hector

To boot, Senate Clerk Rosemary Laing to retire

Note also that one of the nation’s most powerful officials has resigned in a move that leaves the Turnbull government without a permanent secretary at the Department of Finance as it prepares for a budget update at the end of the year. Jane Halton steps down as Fin­ance secretary on October 15 after 33 years in the public service, ­including a tumultuous time as head of the border control taskforce at the height of the “children overboard” affair  Jane Halton


CODA: Via Lou who enjoyed the parliamentary environment especially those glasses of red ;-)

New revelations published today by ICIJ, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and news organizations from Europe, South America, Asia and Africa reveal fresh information about offshore companies in the Bahamas.

The leaked Bahamian files reveal details of the offshore activities of prime ministers, ministers, princes and convicted felons.

Alongside detailed reporting, ICIJ is making details from the Bahamas corporate registry available to the public. This creates, for the first time, a free, online and publicly-searchable database of offshore companiesset up in the island nation that has sometimes been called “The Switzerland of the West.”

New leak reveals Bahamas offshore secrets

UK home secretary named as having been director of two Bahamas firms, while a co-director at another company was jailed over a false statement Leaks reveal Amber Rudd's involvement in Bahamas offshore firms

How to hide it: inside the secret world of wealth managers Guardian (Richard Smith)

CODA: Robert D. Flach, OOPS! A BELATED HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ANOTHER MEdia Dragon. 15 years blogging for Robert – congratulations! Robert is much much older than this MEdia Dragon in the internet years by 6 months ;-)