GrodsCorp

John Howard Brumby’s way

Wednesday 2 April 2008, 9:24 am

The Editor

Categories: Melbourne, Politics, Public transport

Tags: JohnBrumby, LynneKosky, Myki, TransportTicketingAuthority, VivianMiners

Every day the Brumby ALP government in Victoria is looking more and more like the worst parts of John Howard’s shameful administration. Yesterday the head of the Transport Ticketing Authority, Vivian Miners, resigned from his job by “mutual consent” with the transport minister, Lynne Kosky. Miners is responsible for the smartcard ticketing debacle that is hideously over-budget and three years overdue, and in a completely unrelated coincidence he was due this morning to give evidence at a parliamentary committee investigating his apparent conflict of interest during the smartcard tendering process. This is the kind of accountability and transparency that John Howard was famous for.

But his resignation has highlighted the ridiculous salary that Miners was being paid: $545,000. That ~~makes~~ made him the highest paid public servant in the State, and it’s more money than John Surname earns in a year. How can we possibly justify such an astronomical salary for somebody whose job, while important, is to oversee only one aspect of one portfolio of the entire government? If over half a million dollars is justified for the head of the public transport ticketing division then why isn’t the Premier on at least double that figure? And since I can bring my classroom photocopying in under-budget every term why aren’t I paid as much as Vivian Miners is was?

13 Comments

Jeremy (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 10:46 am) #

Who do you have to f*ck to get a ludicrously overpaid job in this state? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW.
keri (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 11:53 am) #

Dump your brains in the nearest bin, for starts, Jeremy.
Chade (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 12:23 pm) #

Maybe it’s more a question of bending over far enough, rather than any more… involved activities.
Damian (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 2:23 pm) #

Come on, we all know that the market rules, man, and in order to attract and retain the best talent you need to pay shitloads. Why do you think Surname earns what he does?

In other countries, gumints decide to pay higher wages to public servants to deter corruption. In theory, if they have a big enough pay packet, and the law works well, then they won’t feel the need to be corrupt.

Clearly this doesn’t work in Strayer. I don’t know anything about Miner’s “conflict of interest”, but I do know that the term “conflict of interest” fits within a category that the rest of the world calls corruption: that is, using public power for private profit.

The market - via high wages - isn’t stopping corruption. We’d better hope the legal system can.
keri (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 4:09 pm) #

Surname earns what he does by standing on a street corner in St. Kilda, Damian.

Although working in the Public Service is the nearest equivalent, so maybe I shouldn’t scoff.
Damian (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 4:43 pm) #

Keri, he’s just a victim of a tough market, that’s all. Surname just has to become more competitive, more efficient, maybe diversify his product/service offering.
keri (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 5:01 pm) #

Maybe you should become his pimp, I mean, Business Advisor, Damian.
Damian (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 5:23 pm) #

Heh, I’m sure he’d love that, Keri.

(PS Ed, I just re-read my earlier rant and noticed my apostrophaic phuckup on Miners’ name. Believe me, t’was but a typo.)
Mikey (Wednesday 2 April 2008, 6:06 pm) #

Because the public service is competing with private industry and don’t Australians deserve the best?

It was the same argument Sir Humphrey used for Trident.
John Surname (Thursday 3 April 2008, 11:32 pm) #

“Surname earns what he does by standing on a street corner in St. Kilda, Damian.”

Shut your god, woman.
keri (Friday 4 April 2008, 10:48 am) #

Shut my God? I wasn’t aware that my god was something I could shut.
Bron (Friday 4 April 2008, 11:24 am) #

Maybe John thinks ‘hole’ is a god. Only thing I can come up with without being completely filthy.
keri (Friday 4 April 2008, 11:34 am) #

I have every confidence that’s the case, Bron.