MasterChef spoiler? (Probably not.) Adam wins MasterChef. The secret is out and buzzing around Melbourne already. Said to be from an impeccable inside source. (Ed: Given the finale is filmed live this Sunday, it’s hard to believe anyone could know. But never let it be said we don’t tell you things …)
Open government? Almost. It seems Lindsay Tanner’s “Declaration of Open Government” is not as toothless as yesterday’s Crikey made out. At a section planning day recently, our section was informed that FOI is changing from “why something should be public” to “why something shouldn’t be made public” and that all documents that relate to decision-making in the department will now be published online unless an exemption is granted beforehand.
Immigration Department waste. When is anyone — the government, the Department of Finance, anyone — going to ask the question about what the Department of Immigration has (or more particularly hasn’t) achieved with the half a billion dollars given it by the Australian government four years ago? So much effort and dollars have been spent for so little. Is anyone going to call all of this to account on behalf of the taxpayer? Sources say staff call it and indeed have been calling it since the inception as “lipstick on a pig”.
The old existing systems are still there, but with so-called “portals” on the top. But how has this benefited clients or the taxpayer and how does it improve decision-making for staff? Is anyone game to do a reconciliation between the recommendations of various external and internal reviews and what has actually been delivered four years later? Anyone?
Watch your Telstra bill … Telstra has a website and a phone app that lets you keep track of how much of your smart phone data allocation you have used. Lots of people (kids especially) use it to make sure they do not overshoot their allocation and get hit with the outrageous per-megabyte charges for additional usage. Problem is, neither the website nor the iPhone app (can’t speak for other smart phones) has worked since July 9. Wonder how many hapless folks are going to get stung at the end of the month because they couldn’t keep track of their usage …
Election lookalikes. The lady from Dr Seuss’ The Foot Book has a remarkable similarity to a certain prime minister. “In the house and in the street how many, many feet you meet.”
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