Hollowmen & Utopia
Politicians, political advisors, and public servants get bad press; sometimes it’s deserved.
One reason so many think they’re always rotten is we’ve been told forever they’re terrible. This denunciation reached its crescendo during the life of the Gillard Government, courtesy of the relentless negativity of the Federal Coalition, their media arm – the Murdoch Media Empire – and too many lazy, gullible members of the Canberra press gallery.
It’s no coincidence that The Hollowmen was so popular during the life of the Rudd Government, nor that Utopia arrives as we have a Federal Government re-committing to their past advocacy of cutting the size and functions of the public service.
Both programs bully soft targets (neither political advisers nor public servants can answer back or defend themselves) and pander to the current myth-making of right-wing activists: when Labor was in power, paint the Gillard/Rudd Governments as cynical, incompetent and unethical (Hollowmen); and now Tony Abbott is in power, paint those public servants he wants to diminish as incompetent, ineffectual and ultimately disposable (Utopia).
I’ve met thousands of politicians, advisors and public servants, and the vast majority are ethical, competent and bent on public service – they bear no resemblance to the right-wing cliches and caricatures in Hollowmen and Utopia.
We should be defending and advancing those who give good public service, not helping ideological extremism tear them down.
The Hollow Men (1925): http://aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Poem.htm
Posted on October 16, 2014, in culture, manufacturing consent, media, politician, Politics, public servant, values and tagged communication, Criticisms of Democracy, Culture, Democracy, ministerial advisor, political advisor, politician, Politics, public service. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
mikesmithonline 
Hi Mike, I agree with your basic premise but some of the characters on Utopia ring true from personal experience, not anecdotes! Most public servants are committed and ethical yet some close to the top…
LikeLike
I don’t want to say there’s no-one at all like that – like you, I’ve met them! The Ministerial staff system has its problems, some big problems, but it’s nothing like what’s commonly portrayed.
LikeLike
I was 38 years a public servant and I agree with Mike that most including Ministerial Advisers get a bum rap. Most Ministerial advisers fall into the APS 5/APS 6 leve of the public servce and have to negotiate regularly with SES staff earning 250,000 a year more than them. They also work up to 14 hours a day and weekends especially in estimates time. Since Howard times many public servants work many hours more than theyare paid for yet still they will hang in there. Often the most dedicated and efficient are not successful careerwise as they focus on their clients than processes. I know that social welfare departments often staff whose focus on the client need overrules the approach inherited from the Howard years of focussing on the dollar. I had to deal with 800 page act and similar sized regulations but managed to find the loopholes to acheive improvements for our client group.
LikeLike