dtmuscio

Having Lost the Plot, Infrastructure Australia is Doomed

The Commonwealth Infrastructure Priority List is due for de-listing, according to John Austen (“Time to call time on Infrastructure Australia”, Pearls and Irritations, October 8, 2021). With Intergenerational and Auditor-General reports it shares the fate of public administration ignored by the public. We ought to be interested in what projects the government wants to spendContinue reading “Having Lost the Plot, Infrastructure Australia is Doomed”

Waiting for your reply Scott

It’s really quite simple Sco-Mo. Someone, in this case a key international organisation seeking to save the planet, invites you to a world conference. It is polite to respond with your RSVP, particularly when you are advised of the event with perhaps a year’s notice. You say thank you for inviting me, I would beContinue reading “Waiting for your reply Scott”

Job-keeper Accountability Fiasco

How long can the conservative myth of superior economic management be sustained? Having already overestimated the original disbursement of Job-keeper allocations by $60 billion (46% error), the federal government has gifted about $25 billion to unqualified enterprises. Intended to maintain a snug relationship with employees, Job-keeper largesse has been pocketed by companies who actually madeContinue reading “Job-keeper Accountability Fiasco”

Scott-the-Announcer

Scott-the-Announcer A moniker not as frightening as those of your lineage like Vlad-the-Impaler or even Attila-the-Hun, but Scott-the-Announcer fits you Sco-Mo. You’re fond of making announcements, not so good at action. I recall that, as a child, I formed the view that, with their apparent readiness to leave the field of play during test matchesContinue reading “Scott-the-Announcer”

Insidious Normative Corruption

Insidious Normative Corruption We walk past it mutely, signaling our tacit acquiescence. The perpetrators of corruption are not visibly embarrassed by detection. They are no longer given reflective pause by the memes of yesteryear, such as Jiminy Cricket exhorting us to “always let your conscience be your guide”. Government administration has become an ethics freeContinue reading “Insidious Normative Corruption”

Not Unprecedented

In the NSW State Archives summary of the “Spanish” Flu of 1919, the first government proclamation closed libraries, schools, churches, theatres, public halls and indoor places of entertainment. Two days later on 30 January, three proclamations were issued: Mandatory wearing of masks to cover nose and mouth. Public gatherings prohibited. No crossing the border fromContinue reading “Not Unprecedented”

What the Dickens is wrong with Americans?!

Reading Martin Chuzzlewit again (Signet classic edition 1965) 53 years since my first reading, I was struck by Dickens’ observations of the American character. Writing in 1842, he seemed to sum up how the collective psyche was sucking the nation down the vortex of exceptionalism and insularity. Dickens’ principal character inquires of his host (p569):Continue reading “What the Dickens is wrong with Americans?!”

A First for Australian Women

Centenary Unnoticed, Unremarked and Uncelebrated: A milestone in the history of the women’s movement Sunday, 12 July, 2020 is the anniversary the first representation of Australian women at the First Congress of the International Federation of University Women held in London, commencing 12 July 1920. Recorded in the source below, Mildred was my great auntContinue reading “A First for Australian Women”

Abe’s Ghost Checks In

One hundred and fifty seven years ago, I spoke to you about a great American nation in prospect. It was to be purchased with the blood of those embroiled in the great civil conflagration playing out at that time. It was perhaps naïve to expect a fair society to emerge from such bitterness. Looking atContinue reading “Abe’s Ghost Checks In”

Sorry China, Our Bad

China, there’s been a big misunderstanding, it’s not personal you know. Maybe we haven’t been expressing ourselves clearly or showing enough cultural respect? As the Middle Kingdom you may regard Australia as on the periphery of those concentric circles radiating like sound waves from Bejing. Even one of our past Prime Ministers described our positionContinue reading “Sorry China, Our Bad”