I don't think the level of incompetence in government departments should be tolerated any longer. From health to judiciary to approval of outrageous public funding it's all gone too far. I'm sure we could all work together on solutions. Put forward your suggestions. Let's have a go.

indi, i've been putting my solution on this site for months. it's summed up as 'democracy'.

there can be no accountability to the people without democracy, the rule by the people.

unfortunately, over the last 30-odd years, i have discovered that a capacity for democracy can be obliterated by growing up in a parliamentary society. there may even be an element of genetic selection for submissiveness here.

perhaps later generations will escape the cultural incapacity, but i would bet against it, reluctantly. so get used to incompetence in your masters, their guild selection criteria are concerned chiefly with 1:"getting on top" and 2:"staying on top".

actual management of public affairs comes after this and is merely 'pass/fail', with 'fail' only being recorded if the murdoch press begins to complain.

sorry, mate, but you're a serf. keep your head down and read the footy section, or the racing guide.

The perfect political system is yet to be invented.

Democracy doesn't work - for a myriad of reasons.

Nor does communism, dictatorship, or any other political modus operandi you care to name.

Hernando de Sota's excellent book entitled "The Mystery of Capitalism - why it works in the West and nowhere else" is worth a read as to why democracy and capitalism are mutually contradictory objectives.

Just my 2c

I'm not inclined to to think that it is any actual political system that is the main cause of the appalling state in Govt departments. In my experience it is the public servant culture. People who are totally inadequate but get promotion after failing in the previous position. That system must go. I suggest petition the Governor General to get the Law Reform Commission do earn their Dollar. We always hear the excuse "yes, but it's the Law" in situations wherein obvious moral wrong occurs. Well, we have a Law Reform Commission & a Public Service Commission & we have a constituional right to request that public servants, especially the very highly paid ones, should be demoted back or moved sideways to a position in which they can perform rather than having to be promoted to be gotten rid of. There are many capable people out of work because of useless Public Servants under the protection of the Public service Union. It's one thing to stand up for peoples' rights & another for preventing peoples' right to a competent public service.

Spot on individual.

And when one of these hopeless one's are uncovered they cry bulling,

and ,as they are now a known waste of space, there fellow useless

cubicle cockroach's keep up the charade to keep them there.

I've heard them say " It's the law " in their first sentence and then

in the second brush off the law they just broke. It truly amazes me to

see government throw tens of millions of our money at a problem and

all we end up with is another building full of cubicles filled with

consultants to tell the lifer employees that they are the problem and

then see the same lifers wait until their contracts are up and then

discard all the advice and continue about their useless ways.

But as a few in these forums have said what i nearly totally believe.

That the people of this land are getting what they voted for.

And the cubicle cockroach's remain immune from from any inquiries as

they are the one's that do the investigating of themselves and their

workmates .

It truly is a sad state of affairs that when i talk about it anywhere

all i get is ,there's nothing we can do, or, it doesn't affect me.

All i can say to our newest immigrants is welcome to real Australia.

One of the ways to limit the damage of poor governance is to limit the head of state to a two term limit as is done in many countries, socialists and democracies.

1) Greater transparency. This will only come about when the public and the media refuse to let responsibility be palmed off.

For starters, reporters need to end the practice of quoting anonymous department spokespeople.
Government departments need to make the person in charge able to comment and need to have their name tacked to whatever they say, so the buck stops with them.

These department heads in turn, need to be able to honestly say what is wrong without all this rhetoric designed to cover their backside.

2) Another key element of this is legal reform. Issues such as this are often caused by a fear of litigation, which in turn is largely because lawyers have been keen to ensure they can get their clients a payout, which in turn ensures the profitability of their profession.
Regrettably, this clogs up the system and makes the cost of liability insurance skyrocket.
An inquisitorial system as used in Japan and Germany, which has a lower rate of wrongful imprisonment as well as fewer acquittals, is clearly a superior model, but you'll find there are few in the legal profession who are keen to adopt a system that will directly reduce their power and influence. In order to make this persuasive, they're apt to use noble rhetoric about the honour and tradition of our westminster model, but regrettably, it isn't backed up by the numbers.

If enough people start pushing for these two issues, the flow on effects would improve Australian society immeasurably.

PT you have the right to your views as strange as they are, however to link the problem to leadership is silly.
The thread holds promise ,had I known it was to be posted I would not have sent in can we trust DOCS in truth both threads highlight the real problem.
The public service is lost and leaderless within that group not just government.
I challenge strongly anything that drives us to be more American , and that one day we may be forced to dump the best Prime Minister we ever had because some silly time line has been crossed.

here's the first step if you want to do your bit for society.

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/EPetitions_QLD/HTML/RequestForm.pdf