Friday, August 28, 2009
Why John Hatzistergos Should Resign
Read Richard Ackland's article about John Hatzistergos' attitude and actions concerning the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Yes it is sickening! Yes this man must not be allowed to get away unscathed. Yes he must be held accountable. Yes he should resign! Yes the public administration policy that Mr Hatzistergos apparently approves of, and which is implemented by his departmental Director General Laurie Glanfield, is appalling. Just read Beverley Kingston's article on the utter nonsense going on in the public service all because of the political games played by departmental heads.
UN Verdict on Australian Discrimination
Just read Clarence Girl's blog about racism and the indigenes of Australia as commented on by the UN.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
How a Merger Caused NSW Legislative Council Deadlock
I have been rummaging around various blogs and am amazed that the mainstream media has failed to uncover the full story behind the deadlock that was caused in June in the NSW Legislative Council. It seems that the NSW Attorney General Mr John Hatzistergos and his departmental bureaucrat Mr Laurie Glanfield tipped the scales.
They managed to push through a merger of two small agencies in June by gaining the support of The Greens. In exchange for that vote The Greens got Labor to undermine support for The Shooters Party's bill on National Parks access for shooting animals. Now we have a deadlock in the NSW Upper House. How is Labor going to govern from now until March 2011??? It has alienated The Shooters; The Greens won't become Labor's little helper.
Now that Nathan Rees is about to be booted out our state government is paralysed! The ALP MPs ought to pounce on Hatzistergos and Glanfield for getting the party and the Parliament into such a fix! The vain dreams of men!
They managed to push through a merger of two small agencies in June by gaining the support of The Greens. In exchange for that vote The Greens got Labor to undermine support for The Shooters Party's bill on National Parks access for shooting animals. Now we have a deadlock in the NSW Upper House. How is Labor going to govern from now until March 2011??? It has alienated The Shooters; The Greens won't become Labor's little helper.
Now that Nathan Rees is about to be booted out our state government is paralysed! The ALP MPs ought to pounce on Hatzistergos and Glanfield for getting the party and the Parliament into such a fix! The vain dreams of men!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Mr Hatzistergos: Time You Resigned
This makes my blood boil. The NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos dumps on the NSW DPP Mr Cowdery. Don't take at face value Lisa Carty's piece in today's Sun Herald. Instead compare her carefully spoon-fed morsels with the blog from Richard Gower. Carty's article is problematic because of the facts it never mentions that would show that the real problem lies inside how Mr Hatzistergos and Mr Glanfield run the Attorney General's Department.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Clarence Girl vs John Hatzistergos
I was delighted to discover the blog North Coast Voices and particularly to read Clarence Girl's 9 March 2009 piece on the blunders of the NSW Attorney General Mr John Hatzistergos. Keep it coming Clarence Girl!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Labor Party, Newcastle Uni, Elections: Recipe for Justice Precinct
I am sick and tired of the NSW Labor Government.
I am also sick of the charades played by politicians, local councils, entrepreneurs and departmental bureaucrats.
Recently the ABC-TV programme Stateline (NSW) drew attention to the deep division of opinion in Newcastle concerning proposals to cut the railway line so that the CBD can be "developed".
Newcastle University is interested in establishing a law school in the proposed Justice Precinct but is worried about the railway line messing things up.
Who dreamed up the idea of putting all your justice eggs in one basket? I doubt it was the NSW Attorney General Mr Hatzistergos. Maybe his departmental side-kick Mr Glanfield? The uncanny impression I keep having is of a Parthenon being erected just to satisfy the ego of someone more than it is about serving the community.
We will see all eggs put in one basket in this new scheme: watch the closure of regional local court houses and see them transferred out of the Hunter district and into the new Parthenon. Centralisation is all about power and control. It dumbs down the street-level realities in the wider region.
You watch for the various agencies of the NSW Attorney General's Department in Newcastle all being relocated into the Parthenon (Director of Public Prosecutions, NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, NSW Trustee and Guardian, etc). You watch for the hoopla about how this will boost business, create jobs and probably offer us the cure for the common cold too. It will see the Family Court shifted no doubt and as that is operated at a Federal level one can start joining the dots:
* Federal money injected because of the Family Court --- very nice money sweetener in time for Rudd's second shot at the Prime Minister's office.
* Selling off the railway supposedly to inject money to build the Precinct (voodoo fiscal games by NSW Labor Government) and hence "vote for me" in March 2011.
* Developers in for their chop.
* Local Council hand in glove with entrepreneurs who can only have wet-dreams about ugly concrete edifices.
* Newcastle Uni tossing in dough to build its shiny new Law School.
It might look nice on paper. It might indeed rejevunate the CBD. It might bring in money for the already privileged.
But answer me this: if the railway line goes then I'd like to know does Mr Hatzistergos and Mr Glanfield expect that everyone who lives in the Hunter region drives a car? Do they expect more people to keep using cars just to go to the one-stop shop of the precinct? Do they ever stop to think that the disabled, the elderly, the poor, and people because of medical problems rely on public transport? Don't tell me they imagine the state buses will cover the region. Don't tell me the poor can afford taxis. If you cannot ride a train into Newcastle's CBD, then how are people supposed to even travel to this grand Parthenon of the future?
Often the bleeding obvious is overlooked by fat-cats and by bureaucrats.
I am also sick of the charades played by politicians, local councils, entrepreneurs and departmental bureaucrats.
Recently the ABC-TV programme Stateline (NSW) drew attention to the deep division of opinion in Newcastle concerning proposals to cut the railway line so that the CBD can be "developed".
Newcastle University is interested in establishing a law school in the proposed Justice Precinct but is worried about the railway line messing things up.
Who dreamed up the idea of putting all your justice eggs in one basket? I doubt it was the NSW Attorney General Mr Hatzistergos. Maybe his departmental side-kick Mr Glanfield? The uncanny impression I keep having is of a Parthenon being erected just to satisfy the ego of someone more than it is about serving the community.
We will see all eggs put in one basket in this new scheme: watch the closure of regional local court houses and see them transferred out of the Hunter district and into the new Parthenon. Centralisation is all about power and control. It dumbs down the street-level realities in the wider region.
You watch for the various agencies of the NSW Attorney General's Department in Newcastle all being relocated into the Parthenon (Director of Public Prosecutions, NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, NSW Trustee and Guardian, etc). You watch for the hoopla about how this will boost business, create jobs and probably offer us the cure for the common cold too. It will see the Family Court shifted no doubt and as that is operated at a Federal level one can start joining the dots:
* Federal money injected because of the Family Court --- very nice money sweetener in time for Rudd's second shot at the Prime Minister's office.
* Selling off the railway supposedly to inject money to build the Precinct (voodoo fiscal games by NSW Labor Government) and hence "vote for me" in March 2011.
* Developers in for their chop.
* Local Council hand in glove with entrepreneurs who can only have wet-dreams about ugly concrete edifices.
* Newcastle Uni tossing in dough to build its shiny new Law School.
It might look nice on paper. It might indeed rejevunate the CBD. It might bring in money for the already privileged.
But answer me this: if the railway line goes then I'd like to know does Mr Hatzistergos and Mr Glanfield expect that everyone who lives in the Hunter region drives a car? Do they expect more people to keep using cars just to go to the one-stop shop of the precinct? Do they ever stop to think that the disabled, the elderly, the poor, and people because of medical problems rely on public transport? Don't tell me they imagine the state buses will cover the region. Don't tell me the poor can afford taxis. If you cannot ride a train into Newcastle's CBD, then how are people supposed to even travel to this grand Parthenon of the future?
Often the bleeding obvious is overlooked by fat-cats and by bureaucrats.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Newcastle Justice Precinct
Oh dear. The NSW Attorney General continues to roll out grand plans that cannot be afforded by the state's coffers and certainly cannot be carried on the budget of his own department. The latest reannouncement is the creation of a Justice Precinct in Newcastle. It will be a smaller scale version of the gargantuan expensive monster built at Parramatta but costing at least $60 million.
More centralisation in this department reflects the Ritzer theory about the worst aspects of McDonaldization in society: predictability, calculability, control and "efficiency".
Looks like yet another parthenon-like building to be erected under a tuckered out bureaucracy!
Oh and don't mind the reasoned case put up by the local legal profession questioning Hatzistergos' idea for redeveloping the Civic Centre as the site. Improvements can be made but must not be based on the current public administration policies rolled out in the NSW Attorney General's Department.
What if $60 million was invested in employing people to work in the courts and in the agencies absorbed by the Attorney General's Department? What about saving money by curtailing the extravagant expenditure of the Department?
More centralisation in this department reflects the Ritzer theory about the worst aspects of McDonaldization in society: predictability, calculability, control and "efficiency".
Looks like yet another parthenon-like building to be erected under a tuckered out bureaucracy!
Oh and don't mind the reasoned case put up by the local legal profession questioning Hatzistergos' idea for redeveloping the Civic Centre as the site. Improvements can be made but must not be based on the current public administration policies rolled out in the NSW Attorney General's Department.
What if $60 million was invested in employing people to work in the courts and in the agencies absorbed by the Attorney General's Department? What about saving money by curtailing the extravagant expenditure of the Department?
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