A Life Less Mediocre

A quarter or a mid? Not sure if it fits either. Is there an in-between? Perhaps mid if you want to get technical and be precise with the actual number. But then again, the concept of mid seems just a little too advanced. Oh yeah, way too advanced for me. Surely.

What am I talking about? Well, I've been contemplating again. And yes, I know I do it a lot. But that's me. I can't help it. So I've been contemplating my life lately and while its not a crisis or anything, I have been having thoughts that others may point to as the foundation of a mid-life or quarter-life crisis.

Now I'm not saying I'm having one of them. Not at all. A lot of these thoughts live with me no matter what and no matter where I sit on the ageing timeline. I guess its just dawned on me how average or mediocre my life seems at times. In comparison to people I see in documentaries, the news and the like. I just feel so bloody average. Doing a stocktake:

• aged in middle 30s with my glory days behind me and only middle age to look forward to
• thoroughly middle class background with my offspring likely to have the very same middle class background
• decent paying wage for doing a decent job but certainly not rich and its certainly no dream job
• nice house in a middle-ringed suburb but not in love with it and wouldn’t mind being closer in
• good car which does the job for the family but nothing special and with no fancy mod cons
• catch public transport to work and read a book or listen to music
• pretty fit compared to most my age and love a run, swim or surf, but not outstanding at any of them
• like current affairs and politics but not too much as they annoy and depress me at times
• like my footy and a good beer but not too much as they hurt (physically and emotionally) and hangover me at times
• like a good book and a good movie but finding the time for either is tough
• like good music and discovering anything new, but very tough to get to live gigs these days

Maybe its just a symptom of our bland, white-bread, trim-milk lives here in western society. I've spoken before of our political dynamic where we really do come across as a bunch of whingers because really, we have no life-death struggles in this country and the things that matter come so easily to us. So we complain because we have to complain about something; so its traffic and tolls, its phone companies and internet connections, its the tradies who are doing our renos. Real first world problems.

I'm no different. But that's the problem. I seem to be so 'normal' in those circumstances. So average. So middle range. Where once I travelled the world and lived in some of the busiest cities, but now I live in the suburbs of Brisbane. Where once I dreamed of being a war/foreign correspondent and jumping from story to story, but now I write briefing papers about industry development policy and infrastructure business cases.

Yep, things have changed since my more adventurous 20s. But I'm certainly not saying for the worse. I have so much to be thankful for and the most prominent one being my own family with beautiful and amazing son. I just wish there was a bit more adventure in my life. A bit more spontaneity. A bit more 'extra' in ordinary rather than just plain ordinary.

I'm not alone in all this I'm sure. Hence the reason we even have the concept of a midlife or quarterlife crisis. Then again, it is nice to have that luxury isn't it? You probably don't get people living in the slums of Manilla or amongst the dirt of Ethiopia complaining about these largely self-indulgent things. I'm sure they'd have no problems at all living an average, normal or middle range life like many of us.

Most definitely another first world problem then. So I'll just shut up and go back to my white bread sandwich and flat white with trim milk. Perspective god dammit!!!

EDM.

I'll Be Back

Jaysus, where has the last two months gone? Looking down at my last post and it says 30 August 2012. Seven weeks ago. Wow.

Yes, I have not been a good boy of late when it comes to regular correspondence on this blog. I have been quite regular in relation to twitter though with all sorts of witty and insightful comments over the ensuing weeks. Well, there's been plenty of comments anyway.

Excuses, I gotta few. But nothing too outlandish with the usual work, kids, family pretexts. I did move house though and there is another very big one but it’s mostly of a personal nature so not suited to being broadcast to the world. Time may tell though.

So what’s happened the last seven weeks? What hasn’t happened actually.

We’ve had the State Budget and public service cuts in Queensland; a bitter feud and misogyny accusations in our nation’s Parliament; a glorious finals series in my chosen footy code (AFL); US Presidential debates and electioneering; and Scotland looking to leave the UK.

We’ve had shock jocks being held to account for their shocking comments for once; an Afghan girl being shot by the Taliban for asking to attend school; and a man jumped from the edge of space and landed back on earth like he’d jumped off a park bench.

So much to comment on, but for yours truly, it’s been so few time. I definitely aim on getting back on the horse though soon and bringing the world more of my particular style of writing and unique bent on the world. Its not for everyone, but hey, I like it.

Til next time my friends,

EDM.

Rise Of The Government Yes Man

The people that know me personally, know that I'm a Queensland public servant. For those that don't, there's your disclosure.

So recent events in the Queensland political sphere and Goverment moves to sack thousands of public servants have been of particular interest to me. There's been plenty to get angry about just as there's been plenty to be fearful about as well.

In saying that, I fully acknowledge that there's some elements of the Queensland public service that need a bloody good shakeup and there's some deadwood programs and areas that don't exactly stand up against a robust and thorough financial examination.

The Newman Government does have a mandate to institute change and they are well within their rights to undertake restructures and streamlining of the public service. But the thing is, what is going on is far beyond 'change' and 'restructuring'. It's a purge, an ideological one at that, and flies in the face of the history of public administration in this State.

Last week saw a new low in this whole, sorry business. In the face of a pending Supreme Court injunction applied for by the unions to stop a number of directives aimed at taking away the job security of public serants, the Government merely rode in over the top and rushed through in the dead of the night amendments to the Public Servant Act.

The amendments remove the job security of all Government workers, except police (they obviously didn't have the guts to take on the police union), and means there is now no 'permanency' associated with public service positions. My own job is therefore in jeopardy and the notion of having some security in my employment and financial situation by having a public servant job is in dust.

So the Government's cheer squads in the media and in blogs and on forums rally and start screaming "so what, we in the private sector don't have any security, why should public servants?".

And therein lies the cause of my frustration and the cause of my growing anger. Because it comes down to choice. I chose to become a public servant because I rated things such as job security, flexible working hours and work-life balance over other things such as salary, bonuses, etc. Maybe I could earn more money in the private sector, but I chose the public sector because I believe in work-life balance and job security over earning another $20,000-$40,000 a year.

And in turn, people in the private sector make a choice too. They decide that salary and other benefits that private enterprise gives them - bonuses, travel, paid-for work functions, more autonomy over their roles - are more important than job security and access to flexible working hours, etc. Different people make different choices. The essence of economics.

But the main issue I take with the call for public servants to be treated no differently to private sector employees, is the lack of any understanding whatsoever as to what the public service is there for and what it actually does. Because there is a real reason why public servants have traditionally had job security and been granted a level of permanceny in their positions. And no, its not because of the previous Labor Government and some deal done with the unions.

The notion of permanency for public servants actually goes back to the 19th century and is a core principle of the Westminster system of government (that's our system of government for those who need explaining). Up there with the Seperation of Powers no less. It's been around for over 160 years and is in place in governments and nations all over the democratic world.

The reason for it, is so that public servants can offer their political masters 'fearless and frank' advice without fear of being sacked for doing so. The whole point of having a permanent public sector is to create a professional civil service that can base its analysis and advice on the long-term and not the electoral cycle like politicians do. Basically, so they don't live in fear of being sacked just because they said to a Minister or a Premier "sorry sir, but that idea is not a good one".

Instead, with public servants now having no job security, that sort of counsel and that sort of examination of an issue will be diminished and the Government will no longer get 'fearless and frank' advice about what it wants to do and the things it's involved in. And believe me, from someone on the inside, the public service is actually the quality control measure that stops some of the crazy and inappropriate things politicians want to do.

Perhaps that's why this current Government dislikes the public service so much. They want to be surrounded by 'yes men' and they don't want advice of the 'fearless and frank' kind. They're a 'Can-Do' team after all. "Don't think. Don't examine. Don't consider. Just do!" seems to be their mantra, with apologies to the late great Hawthorn coach, John Kennedy.

And public servants are nothing but desk jockeys and no-one will miss them. We've got 20,000 too many apparently so let's change a system that's been in place for 160 years and forms the basis of our system of government just so this year's Budget can look a little better. All against the foundations of Queensland's public administration and one of the basic tenets of our democracy.

So to all those crying out and saying "why should public servants have permanency when I don't?", there's your answer. The public service is not the private sector and it should never operate like it either. You want the 'best' and most considered advice being given to government, not the advice that the Minister or the Premier wants to hear. And that's why the notion of permanency for public servants has, until now, been in place since Queensland became a functioning democracy. Not even Joh tried on what this Government is doing.

I digress a little, but it's the same with the argument that Governments need to run Budget surpluses. You know, like household budgets, as the metaphor politicians love to bring up. But why?

Governments aren't private enterprises that have profit margins as the basis of their existence. Why do you want a Government that is giving us, the public, less in services than it is taking from us in taxes? Why is that seen as such a good thing? There's obviously hundreds of other elements to that argument but that's for another blog post. But the premise remains, government and the public service are different beasts to the private sector and so they should be.

And another thing, the Premier has started saying this week that his now infamous claim that the Government has 20,000 more public servants than it can afford will end up being wrong. Apparently its 'only' 15,000 that will go now.

But hang on, if Queensland can't afford 20,000 and the Government's only getting rid of up to 15,000, doesn't that mean that we still have thousands of public servants that we can't afford? And I thought this was a Government that would make the difficult and hard decisions necessary in the best interests of Queensland? The hard decisions to fix the Budget and return it to surplus? But we'll still have more public servants than we can afford Mr Premier even with 15,000 gone?

Just goes to show what a farce that 20,000 number was, and that it wasn't based on anything resembling the actual facts and the actual reality. Especially if it can be so easily dismissed in the face of a week or two of bad polls.

And to think Queenslanders voted this Government in because it was sick of spin.

EDM.

AFL Round 19 - Melbourne v Gold Coast

For the Footy Almanac - http://footyalmanac.com.au/

BENNELL BRILLIANT BUT DEMONS DELIGHT

Melbourne versus Gold Coast

1:10pm, Sunday, 5 August 2012

Melbourne Cricket Ground

It was never going to be a ‘match’ that stopped the nation. And not even Match of the Day, let alone Match of the Round either. 16^th versus 18^th never will be. But from my vantage point on the couch in my home in Brisbane, the MCG looked picture perfect on the telly and Melbourne seemed to be putting on a beautiful Sunday afternoon for the Gold Coast boys. It wasn’t the most pleasing news for me, however, as I was hoping for a cold and wet weathered day to make my beloved Dees feel right at home while being quite a shock to the system for a bunch of boys from sunny Queensland.

Alas, the game commenced and I was quickly glad of the fine conditions. Melbourne looked surprisingly precise with their disposal and were regularly hitting targets by foot and by hand. The pressure around the ball was good also and the Suns were looking a little confused in their decision-making despite some beautiful early touches from Gary Ablett. And so it didn’t take long before James Sellar of all people marked on the lead and kicked truly for the first goal of the game.

The first quarter continued in that vein and I found myself actually enjoying a Dees game rather than verging on states of anger and frustration. Brad Green then popped up with a mark and goal before big Jake Spencer kicked truly, if you could call his technique ‘true’, for the first goal of his career. Melbourne’s midfield was dominating through the likes of Nathan Jones and Colin Sylvia before two opportunist goals from Sam Blease finished off the quarter with scores reading six majors for the Dees but only two behinds for the Suns.

The second quarter began with a quick Melbourne goal to Sylvia before Ablett snapped truly out of congestion to register the Suns first. Gold Coast had obviously been given a serve by their coach at the quarter break and their intensity around the stoppages in particular was much improved. Ablett and a fast-spreading Harley Bennell were crucial to this and it culminated in a three-goal burst in only two minutes for the Suns thanks to majors to Jared Brennan, Michael Rischitelli and Bennell.

My nerves were quickly calmed though by a long bomb from Luke Tapscott and the likes of Jones, Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove appeared to be everywhere with a number of crucial tackles and desperate smothers. Trengove’s hard work was then rewarded when he kicked a goal just before half-time after floating forward and taking a strong pack mark.

After the long break, the Suns again came out firing and peppered the goals for what seemed like an eternity for very little result. Brendan Matera in particular missing three shots at goal in as many minutes. However, as the quarter progressed Jones and Grimes were again being prominent for Melbourne and some nice skills from both resulted in Green kicking another two goals. For the Suns, Bennell continued to have it on a string but James Magner was doing a fine job on Ablett and his influence had certainly waned.

By the time the last quarter commenced and the light tower shadows were appearing across the ground, the game was effectively over already with Melbourne holding an eight-goal lead. The Suns did kick a few goals early on with Bennell, Luke Russell and Matt Shaw taking the game on and showing some good glimpses. A crunching hip and shoulder from Tapscott on Russell soon changed all that though and the Dees kicked a couple of regulation goals in reply soon after. All that before the customary Jeremy Howe screamer was taken in the last minute (making us wait all day) and he kicked truly for goal as the final siren sounded.

A good win for Melbourne then as they showed some real skill and run throughout the game, elements that have been lacking for most of the year. And especially good for supporters such as myself to hear “A Grand Old Flag” sung again for only the third time this season. Conversely, a disappointing result for Gold Coast as they’d come to the MCG with some hope and expectation of a win following some competitive efforts against the top sides over the last month. In the end, it was the Dees by 42 points and an enjoyable Sunday afternoon was had by yours truly.

Melbourne  6.6  10.7  13.8  16.12  (108)

Gold Coast  0.2  4.5  5.9  9.12  (66)

GOALS

Melbourne: Green 5; Sylvia, Blease 2; Spencer, Trengove, Tapscott, Sellar, Rivers, Bail, Howe.

Gold Coast: Bennell 4; Ablett, Rischitelli, Brennan, Russell, Lynch.

BEST

Melbourne: Jones, Grimes, Sylvia, T. McDonald, Trengove, Green, Dunn.

Gold Coast: Bennell, Ablett, Russell, Shaw, Swallow.

UMPIRES

H. Ryan, Schmitt, B. Ryan

CROWD - 18,097

MY VOTES: Bennell (GC) 3, Jones (M) 2, Grimes (M) 1.