Life-saving news this week from the Commonwealth’s Department of Home Affairs that it has spent up big on a new state-of-the-high-speed-art record management system expected to seriously improve the reach of the Department’s still-new facial recognition security system at airports.
Referring to a raft of statistics which justify the step up, the Department’s Assistant Minister said the number of visitors expected to land in Australia in 2020 would hit 50 million, a big jump on the 40 million who lob here each year now.
“Since 2013 the number of face images we have collected for our immigration program has tripled,” the Assistant Minister pronounced emphatically.
“And the number of fingerprints collected has increased by a factor of 10.”
Call us naïve, but we always thought that fingers – and therefore their fingerprints – came in 10s anyway!
Lights out
To the Federal Department of Human Services (DHS) now where hearty and heartfelt congratulations are in order for its planet-conscious decision to join the once-Aussie but now international Earth Hour Movement by switching off office lights for an hour to save energy and contribute to a more sustainable world.
Fading to black in the company of such internationally famous landmarks as France’s Eiffel Tower, Russia’s Red Square, the USA’s Empire State Building and England’s Buckingham Palace, DHS announced it would pull the plug on its establishments all over the country.
“We will be switching off our lights for an hour at over 400 sites across Australia on Saturday 24 March 2018 at 8:30pm” declared the Department’s Sustainability Director, Mick Dawes.
Well said and done Mick, an excellent gesture in support of an excellent cause.
Without distracting from the significance of the initiative however, the mischievous and irreverent side of PS-sssst! can’t help but wonder how many of the Department’s 400 sites would have been flaring away in wasted lighting at 8.30 on a Saturday night.
Not that it matters of course. Saving the Earth is far too important for such feckless flippancy.
Howling success
To another cleverly creative creation among the many formal announcements of public sector achievement this week as another Department produces an involuntary entry in PS-sssst’s fast growingly popular ‘Headline of the Week Leadership Award’, the HOWLA.
Conjured up by the wily wizards and witty witches in the national Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, the announcement that their Minister was to visit the Northern Territory to open a Cattlemen’s Conference brought a glint to the HOWLA judges’ eyes.
In a stroke of punpersonship the judges felt was well worth sharing with the world, the Department presented its news to a meaty media thus: ‘Beefing up our cattle industry in the Territory’.
An excellent play on words one could almost describe as mouth-watering!
Congratulations to everyone in the Department who contributed. It’s the little joys like this that make coming to work almost worth the trouble!
Cooking up a giveaway
Another great giveaway now in Rama Gaind’s ongoing great giveaway game, this week a copy of the book Rama christened: “The perfect cooking companion for people who love good food” is up for grabs.
To be singled out as the winner of a copy of Pods: Delicious frozen pods for every meal and occasion by Lisa Bryant, all we needed to do was email Rama with one of the many career paths author Lisa Bryant has been along in her busy career and then manage to be the first correct entrant drawn from the PS News Bountiful Barrel of Booty.
The lucky reader who filled all the pre-requisites this week and therefore won the book was Jacinta G from the ACT Department of Health.
Congratulations, Jacinta. Your book will be on its way very soon. And a very big thanks to all the readers who took part.
For another chance to be a PS News winner, simply visit Rama’s giveaway for this week here and get your entry in soon.
As the wise old cartoon character said some time ago: “You have to be INIT to wINIT!”
Good luck.
Wise words
And finally, a long-time-no-hear-from but still very welcome contributor to PS-sssst!, the uber clever Philomena S of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services has been in touch and supplied us with another selection of Philomena’s sayable sayings that say it all.
Always quick with the witty witticism, Philomena has offered this advice to those of us with tongue trouble: “A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you’re in deep water”.
Very good!
And, in a bid to console those who believe our godless world is heading into hell in a hand basket, the wise Philomena consoles us with the observation that “There are no new sins, just old ones that are getting more publicity”.
Such wisdom! More next week.
Till then….
