TODAY I rise to speak in relation to my role as a scrutiny of government spokesperson for the Coalition and a flagrant abuse of taxpayers' money.
Earlier this year, the new SA Premier did a rare good thing and cut a program called Thinkers in Residence, a program that was simply a way for former Premier Mike Rann to abuse SA taxpayers' money by offering patronage to left-wing mates. The worst example of this was the failed British political operative, Mr John McTernan, who was supposedly thinking during 2011. According to reports, Mr McTernan was paid some $200,000 for his time thinking. The topic of Mr McTernan's thinking was, ironically, delivering a more effective public service. Some 12 months after the completion of this thinking, no report has been prepared and there is no sign either of the two toolkits he was supposed to produce.
Thinker in Residence John McTernan's report, Are You Being Served, 2011-12, released yesterday:
TO sum up what I want people in public service to do is to always ask themselves the question: who is this for? And then ask: can we make it better? (This) will be the beginning of a culture of public service in which continuous and continual improvement is embedded a virtuous circle. . .
Abuser in residence? Joe Aston in The Australian Financial Review yesterday:
BUT nothing could compare with the diplomacy of Julia Gillard's communications director John McTernan. I'm no award-winning conversationalist, but after copping one of his juvenile, confected tirades you wonder if he has any interest in selling the PM's agenda or whether his principal motive is to be talked about. Whatever happened to the golden rule of political staffing: never make yourself the story.
Peter Wilson, The Australian, October 3, 2011:
JULIA Gillard's new communications chief, John McTernan, wants to make one thing clear: he is not Malcolm Tucker. . . the hilariously abusive and cynical New Labour spin doctor in the TV political satire The Thick of It.. . . One entry that McTernan retweeted last week, "I'm sensing a change in management styles. From touchy-feely to smashy-testes.". . . "I don't think there's any of me in Tucker," (McTernan) said.
"He is very clever and he doesn't shout and swear; he is actually quite charming to deal with," says Channel 4's Michael Crick. "If you think of Alastair Campbell and the other bullying spin doctors," says another Westminster correspondent, "McTernan is the polar opposite. He is very thoughtful and not at all forceful." McTernan says the problem with abusing and threatening people is simply that it does not work. "My partner and I have two boys, aged 17 and 20, and I learned a long time ago that shouting at kids does not make them clean up their room, so why would it work with civil servants or journalists?"
Plan to avoid ridicule. Lenore Taylor, Fairfax papers yesterday:
THE Greens have announced a party platform (that) will also make it harder for opponents to attack or ridicule the party over specific policies.
Plan to revamp the Financial Review. Joe Aston in the Fin yesterday:
ON a Qantas flight between Sydney and Hobart, seated next to Senator Christine Milne, I copped two hours of her turnaround plan for the Financial Review (basically parachute in the editor Green Left Weekly).
I couldn't scull the chardonnay fast enough to dull the pain. Nor could she.
Premature ejaculation. Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, Fin Review, March 29:
SHARES Reach Peak For The Year
On the domestic market, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index climbed 42 points or 0.98 per cent to 4343.5
AAP yesterday:
THE Australian sharemarket has hit a new 17-month high . . . At the close of trade on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 12.8 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 4,648, its highest closing level since July 8, 2011.
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