52. Scott Morrison

Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about last week’s grumble!

Last week I took a cheap shot at the new Federal Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison. Now it is true that his record in overseeing our immigration regime – where secrecy ruled and meta-policy goals appeared to override any compassion for desperate individuals – does not fill one with hope that understanding and appropriate support for vulnerable people will be cascading down through Centrelink offices any time soon.

However, my grumble was bad politics – not because now that he is Minister we should speak nicely and announce our willingness to work constructively with him, but because it cedes the Minister too much power.

Anyone remember Graham Richardson – right-wing headkicker in the Hawke-Keating government? He did not have an environmental bone in his body, but as Environment Minister he protected swathes of precious old growth forests. Why? Because community groups mobilised to make it politically attractive to protect those forests.

So if we want to promote the interests of vulnerable and disadvantaged people, we need to stop begging whatever Minister is in power to do the right thing – or hoping that we get a “nice” Minister.

We need to mobilise popular support for the values that promote community over competition, or at least an inclusive growth that leaves nobody behind.

We need to make targeting the poor politically unpalatable.

If we do that, then it won’t matter – or at least will matter far less – if the Minister is a hard arse, a conservative Christian or a supposed social democrat who still believes that punitive and paternalistic Income Management is a good thing.

It’s called power. Exercising it is not always nice, and it is harder than whinging, but it trumps policy and compassion every time.

So yes, I am grumbling about Scott Morrison as Minister, but I am grumbling more about the fact that we let it matter.

I am Greg and I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 27 January 2015 

42. Post-ACNC Regulation of Charities

Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about the government's consultation on the replacement arrangements planned for when it abolishes the national charities regulator, the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (the “ACNC”)

Comments on the proposed arrangements are due by 20 August, but the Options Paper the government is seeking responses to says this feedback will inform public consultations in July and August.

Now that could be an innocent stuff up, but when their submission template (which doesn’t work, BTW! [at least when this Grumble went to air]) contains a list of stakeholder categories that shows no understanding of the scope of the charity sector you really have to wonder.

Curiously, the “Centre for Excellence,” which the government previously touted as taking over the education and support functions of the ACNC is not mentioned at all, while predictably the regulatory functions will revert back to the tax office and ASIC.

I have grumbled before that getting advice and processing of applications was slow under the ATO, and that the ATO has been used as an attack dog by governments concerned about charities asking difficult questions.

And when it was in charge, the ATO did not even have an up-to-date public list of charities, despite their entitlement to significant tax concessions. And now that public database, built by the ACNC, is to be mothballed.

But of course the Bill to abolish the ACNC has not gone through the Senate yet. When a Senate Committee recently conducted an inquiry on the bill, over 80% of respondents (and almost all the charities responding) said they wanted the regulator retained.

Yet the government members of the committee just ignored all the research and reasons put forward by the vast majority and wrote a report supporting the abolition – and so we have this latest consultation.

And no doubt there will be charities and not-for-profit organisations lining up like sheep to comment on the new proposal. You know the format: “thank you so much for the chance to comment on this important proposal”; “we appreciate the government’s intention to support charities”, etc etc.

Bah, bah.

Well, here is my submission:

I don’t want arrangements made to replace the regulatory body that came about after years of poor regulation, bookshelves full of government reports recommending the establishment of such a purpose-built regulator, and a broad public consultation to design a better system.

And why should I take time and effort to comment on your proposal when you have not listened to a word that the vast majority of our sector has said about the ACNC and sector regulation.

I am Greg and I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 8 July 2014

29. Excellence

I am Greg and I want to grumble about that genre of mindless bureaucracy which is service quality standards or service excellence accreditation.

The accreditation is a potentially useful idea sabotaged by a focus on process rather than outcomes as someone goes into a workplace they may have no understanding of to ensure that a series of policies and practices are in place – regardless of whether or not those predetermined processes are useful or appropriate.

And so, there are occupational health and safety processes to ensure that office workers don’t get paper cuts in the paperless offices, whilst at the same time ignoring the big issues of workload, long hours, and job insecurity.

There are staff management policies which ensure that the most ruthless bosses know which boxes to tick and the best managers can’t do what might actually promote good work; and privacy policies full of stunning requirements like keeping people’s private information private.

There are even policies about having policies, but not, sadly, about whether the work and service is actually excellent.

And that is the point. Excellence is about a focus on people’s needs and outcomes, it is not about an accumulation of processes divorced from outcomes, and organisational structures and cultures.

Any accreditation divorced from outcomes, but particularly in relation to services to vulnerable and disadvantaged people is insulting, and a great waste of time and resources, but apparently you won’t be eligible for government grants and contracts if you don’t have such important paperwork. Not that that will stop another set of bureaucrats asking you again for the same policies when you apply for or report on the abovesaid grants.

So while we hear lots of talk about red tape reduction, and have seen some good moves at state and federal level lately, there is still a long, long way to go.

I am Greg and I am grumbling.


This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 18 February 2014

1. Taxes

Hi, I’m Greg and I want to grumble about taxes. I know everyone grumbles and about taxes, and nobody wants to pay them, but I want to grumble about people not paying tax. We are about to have 5 weeks of an election campaign with politicians mostly promising to cut or abandon taxes.

But taxes are important. They pay for our schools, universities and hospitals, for our roads, trains and buses, for our police and our public spaces, for environmental protection and for sports and big public events. And dare I say it, they pay for defence and border protection! Taxes also pay for social services for those in need, and they pay for pensions and for a safety net for those who can’t support themselves. In short, taxes underpin the social fabric of our society.

But you would not think that listening to the public debate. Just look at what happened recently when the government moved to close a rort in the Fringe Benefits Tax. Outcry. It was simple proposition – that people should not get a tax benefit by having a car paid for by their employer. Everyone else has to earn the dollars, pay their tax on that income and then buy a car. But some people got a car as part of a salary package, and that was counted mostly as a work vehicle and not as part of their income. And now, oh my god, they have to keep a log book if they want to claim it as a work vehicle, or pay tax the same as everyone else as part of their income. Howls of protest from the parasite industry that has been built around this rort. Unfair, the end of the car industry and civilisation as we know it!

Please.

But there will be more of this stuff during the election. So what I want is every time a politician talks about cutting taxes, I want them to name the service they will cut, the homeless or domestic violence shelter that will shut, the species that will die, the train that won’t run or the section of road that won’t be repaired, or the social security payment which will fall further behind the cost of living. And then we can have a real grumble about taxes.

This Grumble can be heard or downloaded at: https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles/
First Published: 6 August 2013