In the wonderful world of anagrams, acronyms, abbreviations and abstracts inhabited by the uber-nerds of PS-sssst!, the thrill of stumbling across the perfect pseudonym for the imperfect sobriquet can hardly be understated.
So it is with heavy heart and sorrowful sadness that we report the discovery of a newly minted acronym that flirts so close to greatness, so near to immortality, but instead falls just short and misses almost peerless perfection.
The Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs has created a new program to engage with communities in rural and remote areas to host new settlers in the country and ease migration pressure on the big cities.
In its wisdom the Department labelled the new arrangement to be signed by the communities the ‘Designated Area Migration Agreement’ of DAMA for short.
As the brilliant bard Shakespeare might say: “So close but yet so far!”
One extra word is all that’s missing from the contract’s title to make it the wholly appropriate and even more meaningful ‘Designated Remote Area Migration Agreement’ and yield the seriously more interesting acronym DRAMA.
Mr Shakespeare (and PS-sssst!) would have been so delighted!
Blind data
To another valuable new project created by the Commonwealth now where the National Data Commissioner has published a new guide for agencies to help them make use of the publicly-owned information they hold
Hailed as a ‘Best Practice’ guide, the Commissioner’s publication sets out the principles to be followed when sharing the information, taking particular care to protect the privacy of the people it relates to and has won the accolades of her Minister.
“Australians must have confidence that their privacy and security remains paramount when public sector data is being accessed or shared,” the Minister intoned.
The Commissioner might like to point out to the Minister that the word ‘data’ is the plural of ‘datum’ which means it is only when the data are used that the public might take an interest.
We hope he are open to correction!
Supervisor away
To the Commonwealth Department of Human Services now which has under its wing such benevolent agencies as Centrelink, Medicare and the Child Support Agency and which reported that a new record was broken in the six months to December last year, but it’s not the sort of record we’d want to dance to.
According to the Department a record-breaking 1,000-plus international holiday-makers who were behind in their child support payments were picked up at the border for their trip and ordered to stay home instead.
According to the Minister in charge of child support, the recalcitrant globetrotters had their priorities wrong.
“If you can afford an overseas holiday, then you can afford to support your children,” he reasoned.
Driving home his message, the Minister even quoted a real-life example, introducing a payment payer with a case to answer: “A NSW parent who had been living oversees ….”.
The good Minister didn’t go into details on what the NSW parent oversaw!
Giveaway booked
To yet another terrific weekly giveaway now courtesy of our brilliant DVD and book reviewer Rama Gaind, and this time it’s for free copies of the Aussie crime thriller novel Bloodtree River by Sarah Barrie.
To win a place on Rama’s giveaway express all we needed to do was identify the location Barrie set the book in and then have our entry squeeze out of the PS News Barrel of Booty among the first four when the judges meet to mete out the prizes.
The answer is Tasmania of course (read Rama’s review!) and the lucky readers who managed to fill the bill were Bethany C from the Federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Judy S from the Australian Research Council, Claire G from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and Darryl J from Far North Queensland.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all who took part. The delightful new books will be on their way to their new homes shortly.
In the meantime, for another chance to rake up a win at Rama’s expense, try your hand at this week’s giveaway at this link and you too could take your rightful place in Rama’s Registry of Rightfully Rewarded Readers!
Good luck….
Instant success
And finally, the time taken for a good idea to develop into an ongoing tradition seems to be on steroids at the NSW Department of Education if the sky rocketing success of its very worthwhile Game Changer Challenge is any guide.
Staged during Education Week to pit school against school in the challenge to come up with innovative solutions for problems facing today’s troubled world, the Department’s initiative has hit the jackpot after just one outing.
“Launched in 2018, the Game Changer Challenge has become an annual event…” the Department declared.
One year down, and goodness knows how many more to come.
Till next week.
