Letter
Experts ignored, public service shambles
As an ex-CEO of a major not for profit peak body in NSW I can personally attest to the gratuitous and arrogant assumption of the senior bureaucrats in the Federal Department of Health, Disability and Aged Care when ignoring competent experts in crafting their utterly uninformed policy positions on aged care. From the monastic quiet of their offices in Canberra they draft policies with an absence of any connection to the reality of the policy area which they are supposedly addressing.
Their approach reminds me of the song by Alan Price in the brilliant Lyndsay Anderson movie Oh Lucky Man. The relevant words from the song are “smile while your making it, laugh while your taking, even though you’re faking it, nobody’s gonna know”.
My own personal experience with them in recent years has been a cautionary tale in obfuscation, dissimulation, mendacity and near criminality.
Their propensity for organisational dysfunctionality they cover with their access to taxpayer funds which are used willy-nilly to overcome the consequences of that dysfunction. Kathy and Paul have lifetime’s experience in aged care but their expertise and understanding are ignored by the bureaucrats and an inexperienced Minister under their control.
— Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041