Dorothy, that brings up the problem (I refuse it to call it an “issue”) of lost collective institutional wisdom/experience. The loss of so many older, skilled, experience staff leaves us with people who’ve not had the same learned experiences.

It results in having to reinvent the wheel time and time again, and a country where we apparently can’t build water-tight houses or run safe industries.

Every time National promises a reduction in the state sector, it is not not people losing their jobs, but also our nation losing collective institutional wisdom.

Short term ‘gain’ for long term loss, if ever there was one.

Actually, Gosman, I have, in the past.

So what does that have to do with the issue at hand except some sort of smarmy deflection?

Contrary to your ACT values – which won less than 1% of the vote last year, citizens expect various public services in this country.

You don’t have to run a business for that.

Oh, by the way, I presume you’ve set up your own blogsite?

No?!

Well, what are you doing here then?

Once upon a time the ancient Department of Social Welfare (DSW for short) actually used to help people. The Labour Department used to have effective workplace inspectors and assisted people to find employment. Damn’ dinosaurs!

Well. That sort of socialist rubbish had to go. Efficiency! Stand on someone else’s own two feet. Scramble. Claw. Kick.

And they did. And you can see the dead hand of the public service stifling any sign of life in society and the economy. Hopeless bureaucrats, but ideal for the unpleasant work they do. They multiply anywhere there is public money and high office to grasp.

Hair straighteners, anyone?

More to the point, dear Gosman – are you running your own enterprise? And how many employees have you?

Or is it still in the pipe-dream phase?

I too have found this while working for the government. I also experienced a lot of racism. Especially from higher bosses…

National plainly only see people as statistics.

Every Nat MP quotes stats like nothing. Statistics can be falsified. Very easily might I say. You do a survey on 10,000 people. You choose what people to survey and don’t go about it random.

As you can probably guess, you choose the people who will favor your survey.

Then you suddenly find out that 86% of people are happy in NZ.

Teaching. The weird thing is “people don’t want original ideas, innovative thinking or, God forbid, critical thought. They want conformists” in state schools. They want teachers to do what they’re told. They want all kids to fit into some pre-determined pattern.

The weird thing is that then people scream out the the state system is conformist and they (we) have to have schools that are innovative, creative, and do things in ‘different’ ways. They say all kids are different and should be treated as if they’re individuals on some unique path.

And that is to be achieved by having charter schools. Especially charter schools where they line all the kids up in military uniforms in military formation and make them conform in a strict everyone-is-the-same sort of way.

Ain’t it a weird world?

So from the top down, from the Chief Executives down to the front line workers, they are given the message: “Do as you are told, shut up, and get moving with what we expect from you”.

Social engineering, cutting back services while charging higher fees for them, gathering taxes wherever they can be found, and bringing cultural, social and economic changes in administration, day to day service delivery, in education, health and welfare, that are the realities we find.

Naturally that brings about the environment that Efeso did encounter.

And I guess the PSA could do more than what they do, rather being single mindedly focused on ensuring basic workers’ rights and pay increases now and then (for their members only), but they have settled for what they do.

After the shootings at a WINZ Office in Ashburton their leaders were quick in demanding more protection for their members, and they did not even bother considering the possible reasons for increased threats, abuse, violence, and then even two killings, committed by “clients”.

Hence we got more security staff, a zero tolerance policy, and whenever a WINZ client just raises the voice, they are told, shut up, or we call the police and trespass you.

They are ALL out of touch with the lives of so many of the people they are meant to “serve”, as being a public servant means no more than being a more or less willing mercenary for the government, to do what they want them to execute.

So most will simply see it as a paying job, and nothing else, focus on their pay packets, future personal goals, and care about little else.

Good luck Efeso, with whatever new career or activity you have chosen. I do not blame you for having made that decision.

Here, here. Twice I have worked in an organisation that was ‘restructured’ by management consultants. In each case, the people doing the work were mostly under 30. Not only that, most had no experience of the sector and some were migrants with little understanding of the local work culture. The methodology was basically one of two choices: a. Strip out the admin or b. strip out the experienced (qualified) staff who are expensive and replace them with cheap admin. Hopefully not both at the same time!