[LINK] Interview: Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner

[Roger Clarke]

At 9:02 +1000 24/8/09, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>Interview: Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner (Part One)
>By Brett Winterford
>Aug 24, 2009 7:08 AM
>http://www.itnews.com.au/News/153455,interview-finance-minister-lindsay-tanner-part-one.aspx

>" ... I don't blame the Department of Immigration or their key 
>players for this problem ..."

[The capacity to forgive [public service incompetence] is heartwarming.]


>iTnews: Phase One of the Business as Usual cuts totalled $109m - which
is only one-sixtieth of the projected savings from the Gershon review.
Agencies are expected to find almost three times those savings in
2010/11. Where do you expect those savings will come from?
>
>Tanner: I can't give a generic answer  ...

[Ouch!]


>   ...  It's just
been generally about more effort into managing how things are done. 
When you put people under pressure, they perform. When you put the 
focus on a problem and say, folks, we've got to do better, capable 
people rise to the occasion ...

[It's a generic answer alright:  'the usual magic'.]


>   ... Several agencies are utilising improved printing technology to 
>reduce their printing costs as part of the Gershon savings. Several 
>are also extending the life of their hardware assets as these become 
>more reliable or more able to be retained due to their initial 
>increased capability ...

[Plus 'the usual technological change thing'.  Which would have 
happened had Gershon existed or not.]


>   ... There are emerging issues about use of data and privacy. ...

[Sheesh.  After 40 years of it, the Minister thinks it's 'emerging'.]


>  ... And there is the Web 2.0 Taskforce, which is about how we
interact with wider society.
>iTnews: Let's start with the Gershon review. ...

[The half-hour audience doesn't appear to have extended as far as the 
Web 2.0 Task Force.  (When did 'taskforce' become a single word?)]


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW