There is a tiny but quite revealing snippet from a small story in today’s Australian by Christian Kerr. It begins first by discussing how the hung Parliament is complicating the lives of the upper reaches of the Canberra public service but then goes on to say:
Their underlings dare not take advantage of the uncertainty and slip out for a long lunch. They fear a Coalition government will trim their numbers and are watching their pennies.
The ACT Chamber of Commerce says Canberra’s restaurants and shops are suffering as public servants slow their spending while they see who will be prime minister.
There is a reason that Canberra is a Labor town, and this is part of the reason why.
Seems like wishful thinking to me. The public service is usually trimmed through natural attrition. Very occasionally they give out generous redundancy packages. I suspect the reduced trading is more a product of the coldest winter in 10 years than uncertainty regarding the new government.
Canberra is a Labor town because most public servants are central planners at heart and Labour is the party of central planning.
asf
1 Sep 10 at 11:01 pm
Not even public servants are buying the semi-anonymous scare campaign the ALP and the CPSU were spreading about election time. Indeed, a lot of the guys I work with are looking for a return to competence, rather than “fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants” Gillrud style.
Of course, I’m in public sector IT, so maybe that’s different to the rest of the public service.
Quentin George
1 Sep 10 at 11:04 pm
That story is a big barrel of bullshit.
Dandy Warhol
2 Sep 10 at 7:31 am
This is bizzare. The election was bland and both parties offered a similar promise.
.
2 Sep 10 at 8:07 am
I agree with asf and Quentin.
The ‘compulsory debt’ roadworks are taking their toll too.
Those of us living here can see first hand the huge debt we’ll have to pay off combined with massive utility price hikes in the pipeline.
Forester
2 Sep 10 at 10:34 am