Cuts at UWA. The Dean of Engineering at the University of Western Australia has proposed to cut around a quarter of the academic staff to save money from the salary bill. This in the middle of the biggest mining boom the state has ever seen.

Cleaning up Labor. Looks like the Cleaners Union (LHMU)  is gearing up for a big campaign against the Victorian government during the state election. Found this web holding page — www.mydirtyschool.com.au — which features a giant cockroach eating a twistie on a school book!

It also says a website called www.MyDirtySchool.com.au is coming soon, apparently modelled on the My School website. The page reads: “Jeff Kennett’s school cleaning contracts are failing our kids. Cleaners don’t get enough time to clean our schools properly. Stay tuned: at MyDirtySchool.com.au you can find out how dirty your local school is.” It ends with: “LABOR, CLEAN UP THIS MESS.” People are also urged to share information about their dirty school horror stories.

The culture in NBN Co. I heard today that the NBN is infected with dodgy ex-Telstra and Optus management culture and practices. Guess that makes sense if headhunters looking for easy bucks are plugging square pegs in square holes without trying too hard. Surely it can’t be true that one manager has his secretary log-in using his details to deal with his purchase order approvals…