Positive news from the ACT this week with the Territory’s Chief Minister assuring his public service that staff booked in for a pandemic shot will have a choice of vaccine.
“Individuals under the age of 50 that (sic) have booked for an AstraZeneca vaccination at the Garran Surge Centre, primarily ACT Government employees who are classified under 1B of the National Vaccination rollout, will now be offered the Pfizer vaccine” the CM promised.
“However, there are thousands of Canberrans that (sic again) have safely received the AstraZeneca vaccination, and it still remains a very safe vaccination … – particularity (sic once more!) among the most vulnerable members of our community”.
And who – PS-ssssst! or anyone else – can suggest he is not particularitily wrong?
Rubbish Riders
More positively positive news now, this time from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service issuing a strong warning to illegal rubbish dumpers that it “will not tolerate any material being illegal dumped in NSW’s national parks”.
Hear hear!
And also worth ‘Hear hearing!’ is the actively active patrolling band of parks protectors whose job it is to find the dumped material, investigate its dumping and start the ball rolling to bring the illegal dumpers to justice.
And what better name could there be for those workers than to be called the ‘Regional Illegal Dumping Squads’ – brilliantly abbreviated to RIDS, the spectacularly meaningful name of what they’re engaged to do: Rid the parks of the rotten dumpers!
May their powers grow!
Job lot!
And while on the subject of good news, the good news is that PS News’s powerfully popular Careers Promotion pages have been resurrected, revitalised and rejuvenated, so they restore again the roadway to the rising ranks.
A rare collection of opportunities for the upcoming career flyer, PS News puts every PS vacancy in the nation at her or his fingertips, bringing their next promotion just one click away.
And, in keeping with the PS News policy of leading the PS planet, each week a bright spotlight is shone on the most creatively current PS vacancies across the nation, promising the potential of a possible new appointment with a life-changing difference.
Don’t take PS-sssst!’s words for it – visit for yourself at this PS News link.
A Gift to win!
To Rama Gaind’s weekly PS News giveaway now in which lucky readers have the chance to win a copy of the polished story book of female friendship, longing and sacrifice The French Gift by Kirsty Manning.
To stake out a place in Rama’s long line of winners all we had to do was name the destination where Evie and Hugo were going to spend a magical summer, the answer to which was Cote d’Azur.
The two lucky readers whose correct entries were first out of the PS News Barrel of Booty were Janine J from the Commonwealth Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Linda P from Queensland’s Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy.
Congratulations to Janine and Linda and thanks to everyone who took part. The prize books will be on their way to their new homes very soon.
For another chance to become a Rama Winner simply try your hand at one or both of her current giveaways by visiting either her review of this Book Leader By Design at this PS News link and answer the question or her other reviewed Book Night Train to Varanasi at this link and answer her question there.
Good luck, as always, to all who do.
PS from the PaSt … !
Forward to the past again now with a glimpse at the news that made the news in the public sector 10 years ago this week, courtesy of the PS News Archives and the fact that most of us have forgotten them.
Unleashing the PS Past: 19 – 25 April 2011
1. This week 10 years ago, Commonwealth Ministers for Finance and Deregulation, Senator Penny Wong and Indigenous Employment and Economic Development, Mark Arbib announced a plan to use Government purchasing contracts to encourage Indigenous employment as a way to help ‘close the gap’ on Indigenous disadvantage.
“Companies in regions with a significant Indigenous population that bid for Government contracts will need to train and employ Indigenous Australians and use Indigenous suppliers,” Senator Wong said.
Senator Arbib said Government procurement would help create employment opportunities and support the growth of Indigenous business.
2. New statistics released this week then showed Australians paid more for broadband than people in most other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said the statistics were further evidence that Australia needed a national broadband network.
He said the statistics revealed Australia was the third most expensive for very low-speed broadband connections; 14th most expensive for high-speed connections; and 12th most expensive for very high-speed connections.
3. There was trouble at the CSIRO this week as staff stepped up their campaign for improved pay and conditions with a national protest against a substandard offer on pay and consultation provisions.
President of the CSIRO Staff Association, Michael Borgas said members felt they were being ignored and had no choice but to show their dissatisfaction through industrial action.
“This year is the first time in living memory staff have taken industrial action, but the way we are being treated has left us with no choice,” Mr Borgas said.
4. A pilot project to guard against damage to Australia’s $90 million-a-year honey industry was launched in Melbourne this week.
Victorian Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Walsh said the State Government had enlisted the support of urban beekeepers to protect the nation’s honey and pollination industries from foreign pests and disease invasion.
He said the Bee Force project would improve Victoria’s capacity to detect incursions of the damaging varroa mite and other exotic bee pests and was focused around the Port of Melbourne because ports were a high-risk entry point for exotic pests.
5. Queensland State Archives this week issued a Public Records Brief on the management of short records such as micro-blogs, SMS messages and MMS communications, to assist Agencies to meet their record management obligations for messages sent or received via Twitter or mobile phone text services.
The Brief made the point that, despite their brevity, public communications via these methods were still records and required management.
“A public record is information in any format, either created or received, required as evidence of the business activities of a public authority,” the Brief said.
6. And finally, in Queensland 10 years ago this week, the Easter holidays were the first test for new automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology on the State’s roads.
Minister for Police, Neil Roberts said ANPR would target unlicensed and unregistered motorists, who were three times more likely to be involved in a traffic crash, according to research.
He said an evaluation had found that ANPR technology was of benefit for use in road traffic operations in targeting offences that were detrimental to road safety.
Until next week……
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