Opening up in Queensland this week where the Attorney-General called on all and sundry in the sunshine state to use last week’s Law Week to sign important legal documents empowering other people to look after our interests if, heaven forbid, we become unable to manage our own affairs ourselves.
“Queenslanders are being encouraged to plan for the unexpected, with Queensland Law Week 2021 set to highlight the importance of having an Enduring Power of Attorney and Advanced Health Directive in place,” the A-G declared.
Obviously wise advice and wisdom from the Attorney who deserves congratulations and would have received them from PS-sssst! but for a most unusual headline chosen to head up the official statement!
“Don’t wait until it’s too late” was the A-G’s opening advice to her potential followers, seemingly offering ‘too late’ as one of the options to wait for before making up their minds whether to sign or not.
As famously an amateur as it might be, Ps-sssst! has a suggestion for charitable clarity to the many pedants amongst us potentially in need of powerful attorneys and advanced health directives.
Would it not be clearer to suggest they “Decide to sign before it’s too late”!
Or is it already too late for that?
Howling winner
PS-sssst!’s never-ending search for agonising acronyms continues as the lure of public sector cleverness, canniness, competence and creativity continues to justify recognition for its exemplary examples of wise words highlighted in the hope of hooking an exclusive PS News ‘Headline Of the week Leadership Award’, affectionately known by its acronym as a HOWLA!
This week’s never-ending search ends in Queensland where the farmers are actively working to improve the quality and quantity of their farm animals’ feed, the most abundant and appropriate being allocated and advanced by the state Department of Agriculture, actively analysing the assorted acreages of the state’s land owning graziers
Looking to fill more derelict farm paddocks with rich greenery despite water shortages and water quality, the Department has introduced a sharp new program with a sharp new name to bring it all about.
The official name of the program is ‘Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions’ whose unofficial name, as its acronym will assert, reduces to one of the most common, close and critical components struggling farms can hope for: GRASS.
Congratulations to the Department for being chosen as the current holder of the current HOWLA.
Well done!
Slipping outside school
Staying in the world of creative acronyms, the National Careers Institute has been busy generating a seemingly innocent label for a supply of resources and information to be used by young people leaving school who want to explore the education, training and work options open to them when they leave.
Seemingly keen to encourage the youngsters to get in quick and be served fast, the Institute has cleverly named its new resource the ‘School Leavers Information Kit’, implying that it’s sooooo easy to use, sooooo appropriate for the reader and sooooo super slippery that it won’t take long to use by christening it with the friendly and fast acronym SLIK!
SLIK indeed!
Well done to all concerned!
Book over heel!
To Rama Gaind’s weekly goody giveaway now with free book prizes on offer to three lucky readers.
The payoffs for playing this week are copies of the inspiring true story of the world famous acrobat who left communist China to begin a new life in Australia: Shanghai Acrobat by Jingjing Xue.
To join Rama’s Army of winners and become a proud owner of one of the books, all we needed to do was answer her quiz question which was to name the years Jingjing Xue was considered to be one of China’s best acrobats?
The answer was 1961 to 1987 and the first correct entries to escape the PS News Barrel of Booty belonged to Greg C from the Australian Taxation Office, Colleen B from the Department of Finance and Melanie P from the Western Australia Police Force.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who took part. The free prize books will be on the way to their new homes shortly.
For another chance to join Rama in her weekly giveaway simply sign on for Rama’s DVD Run Hide Fight available at this PS News link and/or her other DVD Stepping Out at this link.
Good luck to all who do!
PS from the PaSt … !
Another visit to the PS News archives now to dredge out the news that was making the PS News exactly 10 years ago from this week in 2011.
It’s the last time ‘PS from the PaSt’ will prop up the PS-sssst! pages as it will have its home from next week, sharing it age-old gossip with everyone from everywhere, without the groans and grumbles of having to wade through the jungle of PS-sssst! just to know what the boss was getting up to before she or he advanced to her or his position of such significance these days.
So without any further ado:
The unleashed Past: 24-30 May 2011
1. This week 10 years ago, the Australian Information Commissioner, Professor John McMillan released a set of principles for information management across the Australian Public Service.
He said the Principles on Open Public Sector Information set out the central values of open public sector information that it be “freely available, easily discoverable, understandable, machine-readable and reusable”.
“There is now greater recognition that government information is a national resource that should be published for community access and use,” Professor McMillan said.
2. Also this week the federal Parliamentary Library completed the digitisation of Parliament’s Hansard transcript, allowing the record to be searched by word or speaker all the way back to 1901.
Until mid-2010 the Commonwealh Hansard had been available online only from 1981. Between 2009 and 2011, more than 600,000 pages (from 1901 to 1980) were digitised and made available online for full searching.
The Department of Parliamentary Services funded the project to ensure all Senate and House of Representatives Hansards were available online to the public.
3. This was also the week a new research database linking Queensland Health researchers with prospective participants was announced. Executive Director of the Queensland Health Office of Health and Medical Research, Professor Robin Mortimer said the online Database of Research Activity( DoRA) was the first of its kind in the Australian public health system.
Professor Mortimer said the database would create a central catalogue of research activity taking place across the State and allow consumers to find out the latest medical treatments being trialled.
He said it would also enable researchers in rural and remote areas to connect immediately with fellow researchers in metropolitan areas.
4. Also this week, the Federal Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency issued a series of maps identifying the potential future impacts of sea level rise on the Adelaide region.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet said the maps had been developed in partnership with the Co-operative Research Centre for Spatial Information to help communities prepare for the impacts of rising sea levels. The maps illustrated the type of event that could be expected to occur at least once a year and possibly more frequently, by 2100.
“These maps show that Adelaide, like other coastal communities around Australia, is vulnerable to rising sea levels with impacts like erosion, sea inundation and flooding,” Mr Combet said.
5. The WA Government this week 10 years ago rejected a proposal to introduce a “licence to drink” card, with the Minister for Racing and Gaming, Terry Waldron saying it was “inappropriate at present”.
Mr Waldron said one reason for rejecting the idea was that it did not target problem drinkers per se, only those who had been convicted of an alcohol-related crime.
Mr Waldron said providing all members of the community with scannable photo ID, as well as purchasing the required database and scanning equipment, would be problematic and costly. “However, this is not to say that the circumstances won’t change in the future,” he said.
6. Also 10 years ago this week, the Commonwealth Minister for Sustainability, Population and Communities, Tony Burke released Australia’s first-ever sustainable population strategy.
The Sustainable Australia — Sustainable Communities plan outlined key directions to help ensure future population change supported the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of the nation.
Mr Burke said the Strategy’s focus was on population change rather than setting targets, driving growth to regional areas by attracting skilled workers and building more houses, and alleviating pressures on outer suburbs of major cities.
“A locally targeted approach to addressing population growth and change is needed,” Mr Burke said.
Until next time….
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