Comments on: Too many ruined lives in the wake of the Beattie Government

By: Christine Johnson

Christine Johnson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:10:26 +0000

Ah, yes, the Beattie years that revolutionised staff reunions where survivors and diggers gather occasionally to talk about old war wounds and how they endured toxic workplaces. There are growing numbers of staffers who’ll attest Scott’s experience isn’t isolated and who initiated protests of unfair or improper treatment with the Premier’s office and found doors in human resource, parliamentary and union areas also closed. Free after-work psych sessions to limp through the day or immediate access to holiday or long service leave to refresh or consider alternative employment were offered to cope with the ‘game’ Beattie described as “not for the faint-hearted’. Drivers, ministerial and department staff were deployed on green thumb sabbaticals or life in solitary confinement kwown as ‘gardening leave’ to cool off (it’s a wonder suburban Brisbane doesn’t resemble the Botanic Gardens). Whether endurance over merit administration is beneficial for a smart state is up to the experts – it’s also up to Anna to call those experts in.

By: Christine Johnson

Christine Johnson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:07:59 +0000

Ah, yes, the Beattie years that revolutionized staff reunions where survivors and diggers of Queensland Labor gather occasionally to talk about old war wounds and how they endured all those toxic workplaces. There are hordes of staffers from the Beattie era who’ll attest Scott’s experience isn’t isolated and who initiated protests of unfair or improper treatment with the Premier’s office to find doors in human resource, parliamentary and union areas also closed with remarkable precision. Free after-work psych sessions to limp through the day or immediate access to holiday or long service leave to refresh or consider alternative employment were readily available to cope with the game Beattie described as “not for the faint-hearted’. Some scored ‘gardening leave’; in fact it’s a wonder suburban Brisbane doesn’t resemble the Botanic Gardens as dozens of drivers, ministerial and department staff were deployed on green thumb sabbaticals or life in solitary confinement. Whether endurance over merit administration is beneficial for a smart state is up to the experts – it’s also up to Anna to call them in.

By: michael crook

michael crook — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:10:31 +0000

I smiled when Gordon Nuttall got time, as I was the first one to suspect him and in fact ran for preselection against him, in Sandgate, on the basis of my suspicions, in 2002. Peter Beattie, acting against party rules, interfered in the preselection by sending a letter to all branch members entitled to vote saying it was essential that they vote for Gordon as he was “an essential part of Team Beattie”. The crooked Labor Unity faction that keeps the Bill Ludwig AWU mafia in power in Queensland, in exchange for favours, also had Terry Mackenroth as it’s parliamentary leader, a position afterwards taken by Robert Schwarten. While I may have smiled when Gordon got time, I will throw a party when when Mackenroth gets sentenced, and you are all invited.