yabby your words are the very heart of government policys in this area.
Both forms of government currently hold exactly that view.
Once we pork barreled, in tough times jobs in such things made to help community's created little life rafts.
We now know it did not deliver better services or products, we no longer believe what we once did.
Contracting out in America, with its county system not states, is pure crime.
And here in our state, horrible but true, it often is too.
How many know contracts have been awarded based on friendships? on relationships with former or future work mates.
Or that costs are almost always higher product less.
It is true the very public servants who drown government workers efforts stay,they sit as unaware as ever in rich surrounds managing the may hem called contractors, free lunch's and all.
Give NSW Forests to a business man, parks to another RTA a third task them to make it work and the first off the ships would save billions in tea and bickies ,and office space.

Maybe it is because I worked in that government job.
Maybe because I now look after the interest of workers in them.
But truly I had hopes the thread would develop the ideas of reform,accountability, better management, better work out comes.
But as in real life it just did not happen, well not in forests NSW,
Never, not ever have they asked workers for ideas, ways to reduce costs, improve productivity.
Oh yes some ideas offered without invitation have been grasped, held on to for a year then placed on the table by management as their idea?
We can do better we do not contract out our defense forces.
One day we may, some place just in the last two weeks I read Australia's managers are a bit behind the rest.
Well not all of them we have some great ones, even within the public sector but in that dark place, with jobs for life live totally useless people who hide their failures by saying it is the work force,
NSW readers are invited to watch the current fiasco of contracting out key policing Jobs to, the very contractors who are meant to be policed.