Celebrating last weekend as the first week of the national Australian football competition now where, as it is every year, the winners are those with the least awkward ups and downs as players and officials take a few weeks to settle in.
Each year at this time PS-sssst! laments the absence of Australia’s most popular public service agency – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – to come in with its powers to ensure the football games are played fair and free of bias, which alas, too many appear not to be.
With the Australian Football League (AFL) an active fan of gambling on its games and millions of dollars do just that, it would seem to be an obvious move for the ACCC to step in and check that the average footy-loving consumers are getting a fair deal.
If it does, PS-ssssst! – a former amateur umpire himself – thinks it will find they’re not.
Too often games are turned around by inexplicable free kicks to favourite teams in front of goals, when the non-favourite teams are rarely afforded any unexplainable benefit.
With the AFL tinkering with the rules almost every season PS-sssst! is of the opinion it should introduce ‘differential penalties’ into the game so that players awarded free kicks in front of goals should be required to pass the ball to another player before it can score.
With the AFL showing little signs to even its football matches, the ACCC is the only team the paying punter has to turn to.
Go ACCC!
The welcome that came last
And while we’re on the topic of international firsts (which we weren’t but we are now), PS News’s internationally acclaimed reporting guru of all stories overseas – Graham Cooke – has reported an international first for PS News’s World bulletins which raised their presence this week,
In more than 10 years keeping Australia’s public services fully alert to the public sector advances (and disadvances!) making news all around the world, this week is the first ever that the western Asian country Armenia has managed to qualify for inclusion in the PS News World bulleting.
“Please welcome Armenia for making its debut on these pages,” Graham Cooke requested.
And welcome they are!
Rama’s country lines
Handing over now to the ever handy Rama Gaind for another round of graceful gratis as Rama makes more happy readers happy by winning one of her free weekly giveaways.
This week the prize is Dianne O’Brien’s memoir of endurance and victory, Daughter of the River Country in which Aunty Di O’Brien tells of her stolen childhood.
To win one of two windfalls all we needed do was tell Rama how many children Ms O’Brien raised on her own and then for our correct entry to exit from the infamous Barrel of Booty first.
The number of children was six and the lucky winners to take the prizes are Delma L from the Queensland Department of Education and Ruth C from the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
Congratulations to Delma and Ruth and thanks to all the readers who entered the event. The book prizes will be off to their new homes shortly.
For another chance to join the prize-winning platoon of the Rama Army, simply follow her resplendent reviews of the Book Sister Secrets at this PS News link and/or the Book A Fraction Stronger at this link to put your wisdom to work.
You have to be in it to win so good luck to all who are!
When Eft is not right
A special mention now of Rohan H of the Tasmania branch of Services Australia for being the first to generously point out that PS News’s never-wrong journalists and faultless contributors made a rare error last week serving up a Finance and Superannuation learned article on how to choose an ‘exchange traded fund’, also referred to as an ETF.
“Hello there”, Rohan opened his energetic indictment of us with.
“There are two typos in this article, including one in the headline: ‘How to choose an EFT’.
“Exchange Traded Fund’ = ETF, not EFT”.
Rohan was right.
In our defence, EFT is a fully qualified and real world word in the dictionary while ETF is a mere abbreviation.
Of course being the name for “a newt”, EFT doesn’t do a great deal to support our unsupportable excuse.
And since we have no excuse – contrived or otherwise – we bow to Rohan and will make sure he receives a Perfectly Popular PS-sssst! Pack of Paraphernalia as a token of acceptance for taking the trouble to embarrass us.
We are suitably embarrassed!
Passing the PaSt!
And finally, calling all PS News readers whose memories go back to the Good Old Days of 10 years ago, free tickets to the past are just a click away to returning and wallowing in the GODs of yesteryear as PS News unfolds the most informative collection of PS history.
Simply click on the ‘PS from the PaSt’ link and the past is you guide to go wallowing, walking in or just to reminded of Australia’s various PS’s of the PaSt!
Another service to Australia’s Public Services by PS News? Yep. You bet!
As we say ad infinitum this side of the screen: You keep reading them and we’ll keep publishing them!
‘Til next week……
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