Opening this week with congratulations for the Federal Department of Agriculture as the news is out that it’s latest name change has it adding Water and the Environment to its already polysyllabic argronomic title.
For the abbreviation appreciators among us, the new name’s new acronym is genuinely awe-inspiring, declaring as it does the Department to be of AWE!
And if there’s a valued lesson to be learned from the ‘awesome’ new AWE Department, it is that all things come to the Department that waits.
It seems only a few short years ago that the very same Department of Ag was loaded with the dispiriting moniker ‘Department of Primary Industries and Energy’, rascally ridiculed and comically carved out as DoPIE!
40 not out
And while we have our congratulations out, let’s send some to the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) which marked its 40th anniversary last week.
All good Public Services benefit from organisations like IPAA shining their spotlights on policy trends and administration developments and educating PS professionals on the latest advancements in their profession.
While today’s official congratulations to IPAA come from PS News, I take this chance to add my personal best wishes as a former member of IPAA’s 1960s ancestor, RAIPA (the Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration) and its independent 1970s offspring, AIPA (the Australian Institute of Public Administration).
And, should IPAA ever see the benefits of a closer tie to Australia’s Head of State and resurrect its right to display its ‘Royal’ licence again it could take advantage of the consequential nick-name and call itself RIPAA!
Stone’s throw
A special thankyou now to Veronica B of the new Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, for swooping so enthusiastically on PS-ssssst! last week pointing out that despite our patronisingly arrogant self-aggrandisement, we are not always as perfect as we dare to claim.
“I wish to draw to your attention the following snippets,” Veronica wrote menacingly.
“Which reinforces the old saying ‘people who live in glass houses …”
Veronica then went on to present as Item 1 of her evidence PS-sssst!’s phrase “Travelling across the dtch to our Kiwi cousins….” in its ‘Fish tale’ snippet and “So, tin an effort to quiet our Rama down….” in our ‘Giveaway’ snip as Item 2.
Never one to deny the value of pedantry as an art form, PS-ssssst! welcomes wholeheartedly Veronica’s observant and learned censure and will cheerfully present her with a Popular Ps-sssst! Pack we do so with divided feelings.
Yes, the inexcusable error ‘tin’ in Veronica’s evidence item 2 is an admitted blunder. Guilty as charged!
But delivering the vowel-challenged ‘dtch’ to describe the Tasman Sea between Oz and NZ was wholly intentional and intended to be marginally humorous. Plea: not guilty!
We will accept however that our ‘I’-less dtch may have lost something in the trans-lation!
Giving it away!
It’s giveaway time at PS-sssst! again and this week there’s not one but two (count ‘em!) super free prizes from Rama Gaind’s super free giveaway gear garden from which plucky PS News readers get the chance to pluck lucky prizes for free.
First giveaway to hit the track last week was the Blu-Ray copy of Melbourne Cup jockey Michelle Payne’s story Ride Like a Girl, up for grabs to lucky readers who could name the year Ms Payne scooped up the Cup.
The answer was 2015 and the three wise winners to greet the judge were Melissa M from the Queensland Department of Education, Paul W from the Victorian Electoral Commission and Melanie M from the Federal Department of Home Affairs.
Second great prize on offer in Rama’s gala grand giveaway was for copies of Lonely Planet’s popular book The Family Travel Handbook, free of charge to the first two readers who could correctly name the founders of the Lonely Planet and then emerge at the top of the PS News Barrel of Booty.
The two readers who knew it was Tony and Maureen Wheeler who set up the company in 1970s were Peter T from the Australian Taxation Office and Jenny T from the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who took part.
For another chance to rattle Rama’s sense of giveaway generosity simply join the fun at this week’s quiz questions and you too could enlist in the Rama Army and win a lucky DVD or book prize to write home about!
Rama’s giveaway is at this PS news link.
Firing back!
And finally, staying with the multi-resourceful Rama Gaind, regular readers will be aware that as well as making history as PS-sssst’s Giveaway Queen, Rama is the PS News World Travel Guide, sending readers to all corners of the earth in her inspired travelogue logs and blogs that help make the long day at work that little bit easier to cope with.
In her true generous style the roaming Rama has picked up the call from the Aussie Bushfire Rehabilitation brigade for Aussies to lend a helping hand to today’s disaster victims by putting PS News to work identifying local holiday and visitor destinations where we can do the most good.
“Australians have been through a nightmare summer,” Rama understates wholeheartedly, “and as a result some communities are suffering.”
“We can all try to lend a helping hand and my column will be offering some options,” she promised.
So watch this space and let Rama do the talking.
This could end up anywhere!
Till next week…….
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