Kicking off with a visit to PS News’s Women in Leadership section this week in which Angela Priestly laments the fact that too few women with young children elected into Parliament are beaten by the demands of the job and find themselves giving up early to ‘spend more time with family’.
Of course it’s not only women who bow out of public life to be with family but in the mothers’ cases it’s often the embarrassment and difficulty of attending to baby’s needs while also attending to an electorate’s needs.
In her article Priestly asks what can be done to attract more mums of young kids into the spotlight, particularly as so many policies are: “directly relevant to the experience of mothers during those early years: childcare, parental leave, school funding, healthcare and so much more”.
Hear hear!
Surely, as a nation, Australia can afford the cost of a nursemaid or similar personal support for mothers of young kids in Parliament so that as a community, we don’t lose the skills they so many of them bring to the job.
See if you agree. The article can be accessed at this PS News link.
Not so fine fine
Interesting news coming out of Western Australia this week with a Government Agency fined $90,000 following the death of a worker who fell through a skylight at a sporting stadium.
While the incident was clearly a tragedy for the worker’s family, friends and workmates and we have no intention of trivialising it, PS-sssst! wonders what purpose such a fine could possibly serve.
Presumably, the fine will come from the Agency’s budget which, presumably, the Agency received from the taxpayer. And presumably, the victim’s family friends and workmates were among those taxpayers whose money is being used to pay the fine.
They are effectively paying for their own grief.
Maybe if the fine could find its way out of consolidated revenue to the victim’s estate it would make more sense, but the law, as we know, is an ass!
When it comes to fining Government Agencies in cases like this, that’s an ass that could do with a kicking.
Ageing gracefully
To the ACT now where its Department of Health (called a ‘Directorate’ in the arcane nomenclature of the plucky little Territory) has unveiled a sprightly new service for its aged community, complete with a heartening little acronym.
The new service will help Canberra’s older residents in need of medical help to get it at home, rather than at a hospital.
And the delightful acronymous name the Directorate has chosen? “Geriatric Rapid Acute Care Evaluation”, or GRACE for short.
Makes one want to grow old just to be gracefully evaluated!
Unity is humour
And while on the subject of cleverness, it’s not often a seriously severe and stern trade union is mentioned in despatches but a payrise win for members at Melbourne airport prompted the Community and Public Sector Union to give it a go and dabble in the drollness of attempted humour.
Clearly elated, ecstatic and euphoric by the win, the union waxed lyrical in an announcement it shared with the whole wide world, conjuring up a say-it-all headline that said it all: “Tails wagging at Dog Detector Unit”.
Woof!
Free giveaway
To PS News’s popular weekly giveaway now in which books and DVD reviewer Rama Gaind spreads the joy, sharing some of her favourite findings with lucky readers.
Last week Rama offered the full DVD set of season two of the acclaimed TV show Acquitted to three readers able to name the actor who plays the central character in the thrilling crime series based in Norway.
The answer was Nicolai Cleve Broch who plays Aksel Nielsen and the first three readers who knew that and whose entries clambered out of the PS News Barrel of Booty first were Martin D from the Department of Defence, Melanie M from the Department of Home Affairs and Scott M from the Federal Department of Health.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who took part. The new DVD sets will be on their way to the new owners very soon.
For another chance of winning with PS News, simply follow this link to this week’s giveaway and you too could take a place on Rama’s long list of winners.
It’s free and it’s fun.
Good luck to all who do.
Unchecked mate!
Credit: kokkai
And finally, to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs for a salutory lesson in the dangers of automatic spellchecking.
Announcing the appointment of a new member of the Council that runs the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the Department’s Minister looks to have fallen victim to a spellchecker that wasn’t spellchecked.
In his announcement, the Minister describes the new Council member as an active member of the War Widows Guild of Australia and possessing a wealth of experience working in and with Government Agencies, non-government organisations and the United Nations.
“As a war window herself, (the new member) will have a unique perspective to offer the Council,” the Minister was quoted as saying.
Window?
Presumably the Minister expects the War Memorial Council to be more transparent in future!
Till next week…….
