20 August 2024

Would MSO have cancelled Yehudi Menuhin?

Yehudi Menuhin, when receiving the Wolf Prize some years ago, addressed the Knesset saying: The wasteful governing by fear by this Government, by its contempt for the basic needs of life, the steady asphyxiation of a dependent people, should be the very last means to be adopted by those who know only too well, the awful significance, the unforgivable suffering of such an existence. It is unworthy of my great people, the Jews, who have striven to abide by a code of moral rectitude for some 5,000 years.” I wonder whether the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra would ever have considered...

1 June 2023

Value-focused repair of the public service

The Public Service Act doesnt just allow secretaries and their departments to push back on politicians abuses of power; it demands it. But targeting ministers or SES, or tightening the standards and laws under which they operate, will not be the most effective way to repair what is a broader issue.