Streamlining The Bureacracy
This area can be subsumed under other portfolios including Health, Education, Children & Families, Attorney-General etc. There are several current Ministerial allocations that appear to be duplicitous in their role and function.
For example, The Minister for Alcohol Policy should come under the Health portfolio. We don’t need separate Ministries (attracting further bureaucracy) like The Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Asian Relations, Minister for Defence Support (should be covered under the Ministry for Defence Liaison), Minister for Young and Senior Territorians (should come under Health and Education) etc. The Minister for Child Protection (should come under Children and Families), the Minister for Parks and Wildlife should come under the umbrella of Minister for Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage and The Minister for Statehood portfolio should be shelved for the time being. The Northern Territory does not currently have the population required to adequately generate enough taxation revenue to service the major infrastructure requirements with regard to schools, hospitals, roads, transport etc.
It is little wonder we feel ‘over governed’!! I am at a loss to understand why each state and territory jurisdiction needs to duplicate the Departments of Education and Health for the Australian Government. Surely significant improvements would be made to both areas if there was just one instrumentality nationally responsible. The welfare of our nation could be vastly improved if there was just ONE set of rules, regulations and best practice carried out across the country. Children could move schools more easily with a standard that worked across the nation. For example, a child who moves from one jurisdiction in the first year of secondary school suddenly finds themselves transferred back into a final year of primary school. Or the child who ’skips’ a grade through the transfer process and is over 12 months younger that their peers.
The welfare of our people is a major consideration for any government!!
This is a really good idea Mr. Walcott, although you should perhaps change the title from ‘Welfare’ to something like ‘Unification of departments’ or ‘Streamlining the Buerocracy’
Thanks so much for your 6 comments, Tom. I’ll aim to address each of them individually.
‘Streamlining the bureaucracy’ is an excellent suggestion. Thanks for the tip. That’s what the web-site is intended to accomplish – interactive commentary between others and me. Great(orex) to be in contact. I look forward to our continuing association. You’ll appreciate that this journey is unfolding and I’m learning more with each and every breath.