Not everyone sad to see Moran go. Could a “collective sigh of relief” be heard in the nation’s capital yesterday with the announcement Terry Moran was stepping down as the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet? That’s one take from a Canberra insider, who reckons Moran was responsible for “stuffing the upper echelons of the Australian public service with failed refugees from failed state governments, and driving the final nails into the coffin of an independent public service”. We’re not sure about that, but here’s hoping replacement Ian Watt does, as our tipster predicts, “rebuild the intellectual and strategic focus of our nation’s public service”.
Qld bureaucrat hits the bottle. A former Queensland government staffer with aspirations to take over a current minister’s seat is fast losing supporters following a number of alcohol-related incidents, we’re told. One spy reports: “A few months ago he was thrown out of a Brisbane watering hole popular with political types after one too many rumbos. He got himself into more strife at the same venue a week ago after launching into a Mel Gibson-style meltdown which left a number of his former colleagues very disappointed. The bar’s workers are none-too-impressed either and are considering banning him.”
Belinda’s Woy Woy meeting. She’s tireless, our Belinda. Beavering away at Labor’s Woy Woy branch …
From: Belinda Neal
Subject: Special Woy Woy Branch MeetingA reminder that the next meeting of the Branch is at 7.30 pm Monday 8th August 2011
EVERGLADES COUNTRY CLUB DUNBAN ROAD WOY WOY
Please note that we have a special guest speaker on Local crime and prevention
Senior Constable Corina Hassett
Crime Prevention Officer
Brisbane Water Local Area CommandOrdinary business will be deferred until after the address.
All community members are welcome to attend.
Please be on time so we can maximise our time for questions
Yours sincerely
Belinda Neal
He’s got Saul’s vote, at least. Yesterday we suggested AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was in the sights of some to step into the Victorian parliament for Labor. Economist and footy fan Saul Eslake responds: “Hmm, if Andrew Demetriou runs for the Victorian parliament, Tasmania might finally get a team in the AFL. He’s got my vote — or, he would have it, if I lived in his electorate.”
DJs driving customers online. At least one retailer seems to have resorted to desperate tactics to combat the loss of shoppers to the internet, one Crikey reader reports:
“My partner attended the David Jones Melbourne CBD store yesterday and tried a foundation at the Laura Mercier counter. Wanting to mull over whether to buy it, and intending to return the next night, she asked the attendant which tone of foundation she had tried. The attendant awkwardly refused, saying that this information was not given out. Instead, she insisted on taking my partner’s details so that she could return and buy it. Of course, that treatment lead her to check out Strawberrynet, where the same foundation is $20 cheaper.”
Out-of-date discounts? Maybe not. And more from the check-out:
“The big two supermarkets have specially-marked prices on selected low-date items or those with damaged packaging. This has seen great reductions in the quantity of out-of-date stock being written-off or returned to suppliers. Heard from a friend ‘inside’ that they also factor in about 10% of these items (Woolies calls them ‘reduced to clear’) scanning at the full price. However, now that customers are offered receipts as an option, this has increased to closer to 20% as customers aren’t noticing the full-price scanned on the docket.”
Fairfax survey not pretty. Results are in on Fairfax’s internal staff survey, but management apparently doesn’t like the results. One mole reports it’s “possibly the worst staff sentiment ever recorded by the survey company concerned”. Staff are concerned it may never see the light of day …
Swimming against the tide. And in the now long-running saga over the Brunswick City Baths, may this be the final chapter. Writes resident Megan Stoyles:
“On initial reflection, I didn’t see why others needed to be bothered about the renovations at the Brunswick Pool, and so shelved my letter in response to the scaredy cat whinger who didn’t like walking along a path used by cyclists, and who hadn’t read the extensive correspondence and briefings provided on the plan by both council (as owner) and YMCA as facility manager or the most recent response to ongoing inconveniences which are being rectified following user feedback .
“However there is a more general point to be made about the unintended(?) consequences of compulsory competitive tendering as practised by Moreland Council. The YMCA is still waiting on hearing if they have won the contract to continue managing the centre. The decision on this is long overdue, with staff not knowing if they should try and get other jobs now, and over the renovation period. Current staff are working in very difficult circumstances, often being blamed for the inconvenience of the renovations, and the least they deserve is to have a speedy resolution of the issue. I believe they should be reappointed.”
$ 20 cheaper? WHich implies that it was more than $20 WTF are people thinking?
Belinda Neal was on BOLT Report on 10 tonight, with a pile of make up on and a semi makeover. Is this second coming?
So Belinda Neale, who fell foul not of political ineptitude but of poor image management should cease all activity in her local political patry? Why in gods name? Isn’t it a good thing that she’s tireless? And thank you Suzanne Blake for choosing make up as the definer of the quality of politicians.