DOCS needs resources, not outsourcing | PSA

Crispin Hull writes that the Department of Community Services has been swamped and non-government agencies could do a better job ("Charities are ready to help swamped DOCS", February 25). He criticises public sector unions for "resisting change seeking to defend their territory".

The Public Service Association has not resisted change but sought to ensure that change does not happen for change's sake, and children are not missed.

James Wood clearly states in his report that the non-government sector does not have the infrastructure, knowledge or resources to meet the demands of children and young people at risk. Simply transferring resources to the non-government sector will not give immediate protection to vulnerable children as Mr Hull suggests.

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The association acknowledges that all agencies should have a role in identifying children at risk, but establishing a working information-sharing system for six public sector agencies and other non-government agencies will be difficult and will require thorough analysis.

Caseworkers are open to collaboration with non-government agencies, but the association is concerned that, unless the information is shared properly, several notifications to different agencies about a child may not necessarily ring alarm bells.

More urgent is the need to focus on under-resourcing in the department, where dedicated staff lack the resources they need to cope with an increase in reporting. Unless this is a priority, we will not be delivering what is needed for the protection of our children.

Simply taking services away from the department is not the answer.

Steve Turner Assistant general secretary, NSW Public Service Association, Leichhardt

Judgmentalism mars debate about pension

Nicola Ballenden of the Brotherhood of St Laurence seems to think too many pensioners are living a high life ("Millionaires blasted for claiming pensions", February 26). Retirees who have diligently socked away a little money throughout their working lives are more commonly attempting to avoid burdening their children than feasting on lobster and champagne.

Even more alarming is the idea that home ownership is undeserved. Why else are recommendations to cut home owners out of pension concessions repeated so frequently? Most pensioners' lives are modest and they are proud to be relatively independent. The age pension helps them meet living expenses. At least they are not adding to the thousands seeking help from charities.

Cheryl Chenery Mount Pleasant

Why should those with debt-free homes consider themselves more worthy of an age pension than those who do not own a home and still do not qualify for even a part pension (Letters, February 27)? These people, often single, have also worked hard, been frugal and have their daily diminishing assets invested in order to pay themselves an "allocated pension". To qualify for the age pension these people need to reduce their cash assets. The obvious way is to buy a property, leaving them with diminished capital, which in most cases will then be well below the asset level required to claim a full pension.

The home owner, on the other hand, may hold assets over and above the home and still claim a pension. Where is the justice for the single, non-home-owning, self-supporting retiree?

Trish Honeyfield Woollahra

If you love something . . .

The biggest lie of the 21st century has to be statements by chief executives that "workers are this company's biggest asset". This is usually closely followed by the announcement of the sacking of these assets.

Richard Kirby Woodbine

I love my Bonds T-shirts, and, sadly, have bought my last one.

Andrew Parker Bulli

Hearts on sleeves

I'd love to join your fight against useless tat, Margaret Ackland (Letters, February 27). But only if you offer some kind of ribbon/plastic bracelet/thumb-to-stick-on-my-nose, so I can show everyone I care.

Karina Bray Earlwood

Vacant site

Interesting to hear the Premier say the Government is all about jobs, when its employment website, Jobs NSW, has been unavailable for the past month ("NSW unemployment likely to reach 7 per cent, Rees warns", February 26).

Ruth Fagan Cowra

Truth and justice

Brad Ruting (Letters, February 27) suggests Marcus Einfeld's wrongdoing should be overlooked, in case we forget his "good deeds and successes". What hogwash. Our justice system is not based on karma, whereby good deeds somehow negate bad. Tall poppy syndrome may be alive and well, but let us not confuse that with the system of justice whereby lawbreakers are punished - a system Einfeld is better equipped than most to understand.

Roger Fitzhardinge Erskineville

Marcus Einfeld's fall from grace is a truly tragic irony but he does not face judgment for a speeding offence. Perjury committed by one of the court's highest officers to avoid a minor conviction is a major crime.

I also value his reputation and his contributions to society but I am not sure what value his defenders place on truth in evidence. He must be reflecting on his own judgments of those who lied in his court, were exposed and then fell on their knees to beg mercy.

Ross Miller Kurrajong

Brad Ruting has missed the point. Justice Einfeld's former judicial prominence and humanitarian record give him a chance of avoiding jail. A shorter poppy would go to the slammer without raising a ripple. The issue is equality before the law.

John Christie Oatley

Profit v health

As a psychiatrist working in a public hospital I can readily appreciate the chronic problems bedevilling the health system. And, like Ian Hickie, I believe options A and B proposed by the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission would fail to create real change ("Only one health option will work", February 27).

But I am surprised he would place faith in option C - a national social insurance scheme run on the basis of competition between private insurers.

Professor Hickie rightly identifies unresponsive government bureaucracies as a key problem, along with underfunding. But, as the current economic crisis shows, markets are not necessarily the best way to allocate resources.

They are driven by the needs of corporations (in this case insurers) to maximise profits. There is no direct pressure to improve quality - at best it is an occasional side-effect.

And with a limited pool of taxpayer funds to compete for, what would stop these private firms creating their own bloated bureaucracies to run cost-cutting drives and glossy advertising campaigns to attract members?

Instead of being forced to choose between unresponsive governments and failed markets, we should demand a new approach: the genuine democratisation of health care so that human needs rather than financial imperatives are put centre stage.

Dr Tad Tietze Potts Point

Poles apart, indeed

Yesterday on Page 1 we had the "nation's premier industry organisation" calling for inaction on global warming ("Rudd adviser seeks emissions scheme delay"). On Page 3 we have yet more evidence of global warming ("Poles apart but warming greater than thought"). What does the Australian Industry Group recommend we tell our grandchildren when they ask why we did not try to avert disaster?

Mark Ziebell Bulli

Too much for too little - that's the Sol thing we agree on

All boards can learn the Telstra lesson: paying huge sums of money to chief executives does not guarantee the best; it sometimes unleashes the worst of our economic apocalypse - personal greed ("Four years, $11.1 million payout …", February 27). Integrity must be the highest qualification, not chutzpah and self-promotion.

Ian Levy Avalon

On Sol Trujillo's watch I have received a written apology from Telstra for rudeness from his employees, another apology for stuffing up the renewal of priority assistance and a credit of $350 on my last bill to shut me up on another complaint I had to take to the Ombudsman.

Anecdotal evidence has it that $350 is the going rate for such hush money. For this he receives millions?

Frank Catt South West Rocks

One of a chief executive's primary duties is to groom successor candidates. As Sol Trujillo failed to address this, surely a significant part of any performance-based remuneration should be withheld. If this was not one of his performance measures, shareholders need to consider whether the board is doing its job.

Richard Whan Byron Bay

Executives receiving bonuses do so under the assumption they are directly responsible for a company's performance. Otherwise, rewards in good times may just as well be spread among shareholders or all employees.

But if the executives are responsible for good results, they must be responsible for bad results, in which case they should be obliged to pay the company a corresponding sum.

When this requirement is enforced, the belief in the link between executive performance and results may fade.

Robert Fox Myocum

Before you go, Sol, how about refunding me that $50 it cost me in mobile charges when it took five hours to contact Telstra to advise it my landline was not working.

Josephine Adam Lawson

Your report states that Sol Trujillo "earned" more than $33 million in cash and $5.6 million in shares. He may have been paid that; there is no way he could have earned it.

Norman Emslie Dapto

We should have paid peanuts.

Tony Horan Strathfield

Tolerance worthless if you blame the parents

Living Waters says it "goes to great pains not to condemn people in homosexuality", but happily excoriates their parents: "If our mothers nurtured us and our fathers spent time with us we wouldn't have these issues" ("Straight and narrow", February 27). This is a vile slur on many thousands whose loving and comprehensive parenting develops responsible citizens at ease with their sexuality.

Geoffrey Briot Stanmore

Where do banks get off?

As a financial counsellor I am constantly horrified at the interest rates banks charge for credit cards - most between 17 and 24 per cent a year. This is usury. Banks are paying 2 to 3 per cent at most for their retail borrowing. They should be forced to bring down these rates in line with the fall in the cash rate. This would enable the country to pay off some of its enormous credit card debt, and reduce financial stress. The Government should withdraw its guarantee from any bank that does not conform.

Anne Holmes Cremorne

This week I went into one of the big banks (where I have an account) and asked for change of a $100 note. The teller refused, unless I made another transaction. When I suggested banks were for the exchange of money, she replied, "Not necessarily." My newsagent willingly cashed the note.

Janet Peters Kincumber

ATO could show 'em

Centrelink and the Tax Office know how to recover debts without fuss. Either would make an excellent paymaster of service personnel.

Matthew Bennett Queanbeyan

Just another eyesore

NSW Maritime and Woollahra Council were adamant Rose Bay Afloat was "one of the harbour's worst eyesores" and made sure the floating restaurant was towed away ("Floating grub tub up for grabs", September 12, 2007). They still have not replaced the ugly row of temporary fencing they placed in front of the site where the barge stood. It seems eyesores are in the eyes of the beholder.

Darren Challis Rose Bay

Don't shoot the medium

I assume Jim Gentles (Letters, February 27) sent his letter by email, using the accursed technology he so decries.

Paul Duncan Leura

POSTSCRIPT

Leonard Cohen made a welcome appearance on the page this week, when Anne Cooper, of Undercliffe, questioned the choice of Hallelujah for the bushfires day of mourning.

Appropriate or not on Sunday, Cohen's lugubrious tones made a fitting backdrop to the grim economic news that dominated the second half of the week. Not surprisingly, there was no sympathy for the executives of Pacific Brands, or Sol Trujillo.

Marcus Einfeld had a few defenders but most were left cold by his appeals for leniency.

Earlier in the week there was a big response to three opinion pieces: Adele Horin on immunisation (a sizeable minority dissented); Ross Gittins on the emissions trading scheme; and Nina Funnell on the implications of Ladette To Lady.

Like Sydney's transport system, its nightlife is frequently compared unfavourably with that of other cities. This week's focus was on the pleasure-dampening effect of security guards at nightclubs - and indeed gyms and train stations.

We ran no letters on the fate of Cornelia Rau but received quite a few that were extraordinarily hostile towards her and her defenders (one said she had been "singled out for preferential treatment"). By the end of the week the cast of corporate figures arousing the readers' boiling fury made those judgments seem even odder.

Mike Ticher Letters Editor

via smh.com.au

Posted via email from The Left Hack