The South Australian Political Landscape

[Pseudo]

Premier has officially dissolved parliament for the election, Sat March 15.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-15/s ... ns/5262232

So I have a month to practice my genitalia-drawing skills...

[Jim05]

Premier has officially dissolved parliament for the election, Sat March 15.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-15/s ... ns/5262232

So I have a month to practice my genitalia-drawing skills...

You dont live up North do you?
Several Tony Piccolo posters up near Gawler are proudly showing genetalia on his ugly mug

[Jimmy_041]

Chris Kenny hit the nail on the head this morning
Its time to stop Weatherill's plan to employ the entire state population in the public service.
http://www.news.com.au/news/opinion/chris-kenny-with-sa-caught-in-a-debt-trap-its-time-to-talk-about-winding-back-government-spending/story-fni6unxq-1226828070254

Oh, and they're going after the bikies again, because, for some reason, there are still some left after Rann's war promise

[dedja]

The same Chris Kenny who was media adviser for Alexander Downer and had previously sought Liberal preselection for the state seat of Unley?

Objective analysis then ...

[Jimmy_041]

Same one - so what?
Doesn't make the size of our PS any smaller
Keep the same number of nurses, police and teachers (because they're the only pencil sharpeners Jay thinks we know about) and cut the rest
We are broke and cant afford them
Jay's plan is to not leave anyone behind on the way down - we can all share the downward spiral to bankruptcy together

[dedja]

The party that gets rid of public service tenure will go a long way to getting my vote ...

Oh, and I forgot to add that Chris Kenny worked for 2 Liberal Premiers as well.

[bennymacca]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

[Jimmy_041]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Other's perceptions??? You mean the other 85% of the people that pay for it.
Nothing wrong with an effective, efficient, affordable public service.
But we cant afford what we have at the moment
SA is heading towards Greece

This government is totally beholden to the PSA and SDA
At least Foley tried to reduce the size of the PS but got belted

[Q.]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Nothing from my angle. Dep of EW&NR, PIRSA and SARDI need more funding, not less.

[bennymacca]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Other's perceptions??? You mean the other 85% of the people that pay for it.
Nothing wrong with an effective, efficient, affordable public service.
But we cant afford what we have at the moment
SA is heading towards Greece

This government is totally beholden to the PSA and SDA
At least Foley tried to reduce the size of the PS but got belted

going towards greece? LOL. that is an utterly ridiculous comment.

and you kind of assume that the people in the public service dont work. quite often when you cut the public service, the slack gets taken up by contractors, which charge a hell of a lot more than the original public servants, though because that number is somewhat more hidden and you can be seen to be "supporting industry" it is somehow better even though you pay more.

[Psyber]

The basic fact remains that if 15% of the workforce are in the public services the other 85% pay for them, and if 30% are in the public service the other 70% pay for them. Somewhere there is a critical point in the affordability and effectiveness curve.

The lower functions are often understaffed - e.g. those serving the public at the counter - but that is less often the case further up the tree.

The public service always spends its budget and hoards staff against times when they fear they may be busy or in need. I recall an administrator in a public hospital who obviously had the time to trot around the hospital canvassing the doctors about whether they needed new rugs or other cheap items for their offices because he had $100K to get rid off so it wasn't lopped off next years budget, but it had to be in under $100 items so he didn't have to report the details to head office.

Taking an example from the Federal public service, when my wife was in charge of a section of what later became Centrelink, there was a chronic shortage of counter staff while those from Grade 3 up were not always busy, and it was common practice to "save work" to keep something visible in their in tray. She was taken to task for sometimes helping out on the counter by other section heads, and those above, on the grounds that "You make it look like we don't have our own work to do!"

She sometimes didn't any more than they did which was why she helped out the junior staff.

[bennymacca]

That is a failing in the budgeting system, not in the workers themselves.

[Psyber]

That is a failing in the budgeting system, not in the workers themselves.

I agree with that, and I'm not convinced the public service tends to be over-supplied with indians, but I suspect may tend to be with chiefs.

[bennymacca]

Empire building etc happens in all businesses, but I agree with you that the public service should be scrutinised more heavily because it is public money.

I just think in general public service is an easy target, cutting them is not the answer, making them do their job is.

I type this whilst I'm at work too, So maybe it's my fault

[Jimmy_041]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Other's perceptions??? You mean the other 85% of the people that pay for it.
Nothing wrong with an effective, efficient, affordable public service.
But we cant afford what we have at the moment
SA is heading towards Greece

This government is totally beholden to the PSA and SDA
At least Foley tried to reduce the size of the PS but got belted

going towards greece? LOL. that is an utterly ridiculous comment.

and you kind of assume that the people in the public service dont work. quite often when you cut the public service, the slack gets taken up by contractors, which charge a hell of a lot more than the original public servants, though because that number is somewhat more hidden and you can be seen to be "supporting industry" it is somehow better even though you pay more.

Actually its not a ridiculous as it seems.
Greece was borrowing money, with gay abandon, to pay for its ongoing running costs which were always increasing whilst its revenue was decreasing
It made no effort to reign in its operating costs or debt (sound familiar)
The most laughable thing is Foley knew it and tried to tackle the problem in the budget 3 years ago before he got axed but got axed himself for doing it.
Snelling tried to cut the PS by around 1000 jobs and got axed himself.

Answer me this: What is the maximum % of the SA workforce that Labor intends to stop at because there's no stopping it at the moment?

The second most laughable thing is Weatherill saying SA business have told him they aren't worried about the state's cost of doing business (taxes and levies) and just want him to spend more. Find me one major or middle size company that says they like paying the highest taxes on the mainland.

Oh, and Payroll Tax doesn't stop companies employing more people. According to Weatherill, the owners would just pocket the extra money. WAFDH - even Peter Malinauskas said payroll tax was “an appalling tax” and “a tax on jobs”. Deeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Malinauskas also said he opposed the car park tax because he understands it will stop people shopping in the city. Here they are trying to get people coming to the city and these idiots tax it.

[Q.]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Other's perceptions??? You mean the other 85% of the people that pay for it.
Nothing wrong with an effective, efficient, affordable public service.
But we cant afford what we have at the moment
SA is heading towards Greece

This government is totally beholden to the PSA and SDA
At least Foley tried to reduce the size of the PS but got belted

going towards greece? LOL. that is an utterly ridiculous comment.

and you kind of assume that the people in the public service dont work. quite often when you cut the public service, the slack gets taken up by contractors , which charge a hell of a lot more than the original public servants, though because that number is somewhat more hidden and you can be seen to be "supporting industry" it is somehow better even though you pay more.

This is exactly what happened with Forestry SA.

[bennymacca]

That's what happens in defence too (although we are fed public service)

[Gozu]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Other's perceptions??? You mean the other 85% of the people that pay for it.
Nothing wrong with an effective, efficient, affordable public service.
But we cant afford what we have at the moment
SA is heading towards Greece

This government is totally beholden to the PSA and SDA
At least Foley tried to reduce the size of the PS but got belted

going towards greece? LOL. that is an utterly ridiculous comment.

Jimmy has compared SA to Greece before and he gets a bit excited around state election time, I still remember how feral he went four years ago.

[Psyber]

I enjoyed this quote: Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P.J. O’Rourke
It seems apposite looking at SA's debt levels.

[Jimmy_041]

what is wrong with public service, besides other's perceptions?

Other's perceptions??? You mean the other 85% of the people that pay for it.
Nothing wrong with an effective, efficient, affordable public service.
But we cant afford what we have at the moment
SA is heading towards Greece

This government is totally beholden to the PSA and SDA
At least Foley tried to reduce the size of the PS but got belted

going towards greece? LOL. that is an utterly ridiculous comment.

Jimmy has compared SA to Greece before and he gets a bit excited around state election time, I still remember how feral he went four years ago.

Only one feral on here Gozu - Gozu is, after all, Japanese for cow's head
And I was proven right in saying Labor would send us further down the gurgler in 2010 and they didn't let me down
Each Treasurer has said they would cut the PS numbers and the only reduction in 10 years was in 2011 with a massive 333 people (but good on em, they made it back up, in spades, in 2012)
We have been promised balanced budgets and/or surpluses ever since 2010 and have just gone further into the red
Whether we should cut the PS, or not, every Treasurer promised it and didn't deliver
And Weatherill has the gall to goad the Liberals about intended cuts to the PS when Labor have failed to achieve any of their budget projections.