A sure sign that the government has too many bureaucrats. This ad, from page 17 of yesterday’s Daily Telegraph:
DEVELOPMENT OF A NATIONAL COMPACT
The Australian Government, as part of its social inclusion agenda, is exploring ways to develop a stronger relationship with Australia’s third sector. One way to do this is through the development of a national compact. A second stage of consultations on the development of a national compact will begin on 3 August 2009. An online forum will be launched as part of this consultation. Interested people and organisations are invited to share their ideas about what a national compact should look like and what it will include.To find out more or to register your interest to participate in the online consultation forum, please visit www.socialinclusion.gov.au or www.fahcsia.gov.au
The ad then continues with phone numbers, but doesn’t actually explain what it’s rambling about. So I went along to the social inclusion website, and found this:
Promoting social inclusion requires a new approach to developing and implementing policy and programs. This new approach requires strong partnerships between all levels of government, business and community organisations to address economic and social disadvantage in Australia.
Oh, so this is a socialist attempt at giving paper pushes the power to spread wealth around. I say attempt because, the amount of bureaucracy involved in this is bound to make it another expensive and confusing white elephant.
Many Australian Government departments are involved in the social inclusion agenda, and a number of them have established Social Inclusion Units to focus on this priority. The Australian Social Inclusion Board and the Community Response Task Force have been established to involve the community and business sectors at the highest level. A new National Compact, or agreement, is being developed between the government and the not-for-profit sector as a way to develop a new and stronger relationship, based on partnership and respect.
“A new National Compact, or agreement”…government double-speak before it’s even getting off the ground. This is just another “look, we’re doing something, we’ve got a review going, aren’t we wonderful” facade, aimed at preventing people from realising that nothing is actually getting done.
(Thanks to Padders for noticing the ad and republishing it [1]).
Samuel