Democracy is a wonderful thing. It allows people to live their lives as they want to live them. It provides opportunities for those that want to partake of them. It gives people the ability to be who and what they want to be. It provides the foundations for freedom and generally paints a picture full of hope and prospect.
As with everything in life, there is always two sides to the one coin and democracy is no different. It comes with responsibilities, at the individual and group level. Responsibilities such as the need to consider others, the need to treat people fairly, the need to ensure individual freedom and the need to improve the society that we live in.
Enter Alan Jones with his latest rant that truly goes beyond belief. Mr. Jones is obviously a lonely chap for unless he is at the center of the news, unless he is the focus of attention, be it negative or positive, he is not happy. And so it comes to pass that as a 'shock jock' the only thing to do is to constantly come up with raves and rants with the only intention of drawing attention to the one most important person in Sydney - HIMSELF.
His latest murmurings re-appeared on page 10 of this morning's Sydney Morning Herald where he is now attempting to connect the unfortunate bombings in Boston - where Mr. Jones, people actually died and were maimed for life - with student activism and accordingly we in Australia need to be ever vigilant as to the students that we bring into this country. What a complete load of diatribe. I suggest that we start drawing conclusions now as to the Boston culprits and in that manner we can get ahead of the truth - remember what the truth is Mr. Jones?
Alan Jones is, and never has been interested in the truth. He has always, and forever will be, interested in the headlines and him being on them, or part of them.
I seem to recall when living in Melbourne back in the 80's that the Alan Jones road show came to town and he succeeded in getting a television version of his talk-show on one of the commercial channels. Thankfully it failed, quite quickly after first launching. He left town and was never heard from again. And that's the beauty of democracy. In Melbourne, people voted with their feet and realised what Mr. Jones actually stood for and what his central focus was.
So democracy does work and works quite well. For some reason, New South Welshman and their Qld counterparts still actively listen and encourage Mr. Jones - and so it is we continue to put up with the 'shock jocks" of his ilk. It is well known that Mr. Jones is a protected species in this State, but why?
So back to democracy. It is a great system and our country and many like us has prospered as a result. But as I said, their are individual responsibilities regarding those things that Mr. Jones loves to ignore - because it gets him headlines. Maybe we should do what the Victorians did so successfully many years ago - ignore him and he may eventually go away.
In the interim, how about we continue to support the US in their hour of despair, wait for the outcome of their investigations and not point fingers where they should not be pointed just for a story. The letters to the editor on page 18 of the SMH sum it up quite well regarding Alan Jones' comments. So lets all enjoy the fruits of democracy and put Alan's selfish, egocentric and totally illogical views where they belong - in the waste.
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
The Social Good - Have We Lost the Plot or Have Society's Values Changed Forever?
If martians or other alien life forms exist and they were to visit our lovely planet or indeed our lovely corner of the planet known as Australia, what would they see and how would they view us? Lets consider the following scenarios and then reflect on where we want to be as a nation and as a people in generations to come.
This is a very wide canvas from the physical aspects of our planet, in such things as the environment and how we use the planet's resources through to the social values of its inhabitants and how Australia's inhabitants treat and value each other's presence and activities within it. So let's narrow the focus somewhat so that we can keep this to a tidy neat little article as the thesis that I am currently writing on change management does not get duplicated here on this issue. Lets home in on social justice and caring for our fellow citizens.
So what sort of things would the martians notice at this level?
Well, had they have arrived in Sydney during the beginning of February they would have noticed that the NSW government threw in excess of $430,000 out one of the large windows at Railcorp defending their anti-discrimination case that was brought by Graeme Innes, a disabled individual, who successfully brought action against that auspicious organisation for not adequately addressing the need of blind people when it comes to ensuring they are able to identify railway stations. Oh and by the way, Mr. Innes is Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner, but that is just by-the-by. The case had been going for two and a half years
Let me put this in context. I deal with organisations in the NSW Disability Services sector that provide very important services to the disabled community and they do this under very difficult circumstances. They work with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of families, carers and disabled people whose lives are very different to many other residents of this incredibly lucky country of ours and yet who face hardships that many of us seem to ignore. Quite a few of these organisations are of a small size, namely less than $5 million in turnover So the NSW government throws out and wastes, without any serious consideration nearly 10% of one of these organisations full year annual budgets. I'll let you do the maths as to how many lives that amount of money actually impacts. And by-the-way, can I ask who in Railcorp has taken responsibility or has been held accountable for this debacle? I don't think accountability is a strong point of theirs!
So far, our martian friends are slightly confused with this level of disparity. Why would the bureaucracy of its leaders be so wasteful when money is short and there is so much in peoples lives that needs to change and money can in fact assist?
Let's now go to the other end of the spectrum. They notice that there is a huge divide between those in this society who 'have it' and those that are being challenged and don't have it at all. I talk of the windfall gain of Marius Kloppers, outgoing CEO of BHP. A $75 million handshake seems like an interesting use of a public company's hard earned cash. Let me give you some quick mathematical parameters to this figure. At current bank term deposit rates of say 4% (and I doubt whether Mr. Kloppers would be investing in these) $75 million would equate to a weekly interest payment to that individual of $57,700. The martian on the left is looking at the martian on the right and wondering what does one individual do that can substantiate that sort of reward? The answer is not quite clear, either to the martians or to many others, excepting those that are shareholders in BHP - which then begs the question when is enough, enough?
Has our society lost sight of people and the comparative values that we function within? Has society lost sight of what they value and what they don't? Is Australia continuing to clear the path of equality and focusing individual priority and forgetting what may be the glue that binds us as a nation?
I am not suggesting socialism as the answer, nor am I suggesting that democratic capitalism is all that its cracked up to be. Lets consider the GFC and the advent of financial engineering as evidence of that. I am however asking the question - when is enough, enough? At what point does society say that one individual earning $57,700 per week could be excessive whilst large numbers of lives are badly lived?
After this short visit our martian friends decide to return home, having had a pleasant trip, felt the physical beauty of Australia, but deciding that as a people, there is much work that needs to be done in order to improve the lives of ALL its inhabitants. Oh well - 2 less diners at one of Obeid's restaurants at Circular Quay. Never mind Eddie - there will be other opportunities.
This is a very wide canvas from the physical aspects of our planet, in such things as the environment and how we use the planet's resources through to the social values of its inhabitants and how Australia's inhabitants treat and value each other's presence and activities within it. So let's narrow the focus somewhat so that we can keep this to a tidy neat little article as the thesis that I am currently writing on change management does not get duplicated here on this issue. Lets home in on social justice and caring for our fellow citizens.
So what sort of things would the martians notice at this level?
Well, had they have arrived in Sydney during the beginning of February they would have noticed that the NSW government threw in excess of $430,000 out one of the large windows at Railcorp defending their anti-discrimination case that was brought by Graeme Innes, a disabled individual, who successfully brought action against that auspicious organisation for not adequately addressing the need of blind people when it comes to ensuring they are able to identify railway stations. Oh and by the way, Mr. Innes is Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner, but that is just by-the-by. The case had been going for two and a half years
Let me put this in context. I deal with organisations in the NSW Disability Services sector that provide very important services to the disabled community and they do this under very difficult circumstances. They work with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of families, carers and disabled people whose lives are very different to many other residents of this incredibly lucky country of ours and yet who face hardships that many of us seem to ignore. Quite a few of these organisations are of a small size, namely less than $5 million in turnover So the NSW government throws out and wastes, without any serious consideration nearly 10% of one of these organisations full year annual budgets. I'll let you do the maths as to how many lives that amount of money actually impacts. And by-the-way, can I ask who in Railcorp has taken responsibility or has been held accountable for this debacle? I don't think accountability is a strong point of theirs!
So far, our martian friends are slightly confused with this level of disparity. Why would the bureaucracy of its leaders be so wasteful when money is short and there is so much in peoples lives that needs to change and money can in fact assist?
Let's now go to the other end of the spectrum. They notice that there is a huge divide between those in this society who 'have it' and those that are being challenged and don't have it at all. I talk of the windfall gain of Marius Kloppers, outgoing CEO of BHP. A $75 million handshake seems like an interesting use of a public company's hard earned cash. Let me give you some quick mathematical parameters to this figure. At current bank term deposit rates of say 4% (and I doubt whether Mr. Kloppers would be investing in these) $75 million would equate to a weekly interest payment to that individual of $57,700. The martian on the left is looking at the martian on the right and wondering what does one individual do that can substantiate that sort of reward? The answer is not quite clear, either to the martians or to many others, excepting those that are shareholders in BHP - which then begs the question when is enough, enough?
Has our society lost sight of people and the comparative values that we function within? Has society lost sight of what they value and what they don't? Is Australia continuing to clear the path of equality and focusing individual priority and forgetting what may be the glue that binds us as a nation?
I am not suggesting socialism as the answer, nor am I suggesting that democratic capitalism is all that its cracked up to be. Lets consider the GFC and the advent of financial engineering as evidence of that. I am however asking the question - when is enough, enough? At what point does society say that one individual earning $57,700 per week could be excessive whilst large numbers of lives are badly lived?
After this short visit our martian friends decide to return home, having had a pleasant trip, felt the physical beauty of Australia, but deciding that as a people, there is much work that needs to be done in order to improve the lives of ALL its inhabitants. Oh well - 2 less diners at one of Obeid's restaurants at Circular Quay. Never mind Eddie - there will be other opportunities.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Public Awareness of Nonprofit Sector - Overcoming the "Blue-Light Syndrome"?
The information is out there, it has been public since January 2010 when the Productivity Commission released its report entitled "Contribution of the Not-for-Profit Sector - Productivity Commission Research Report", and the statistics were quire surprising, especially to those outside the nonprofit sector, perhaps not so surprising for those within it or those that interact with it.
At that time there were 600,000 organisations in the sector. 59,000 of these were economically significant. The sector contributed $43 billion annually to Australia's GDP and represented 8% of total employment in 2006-2007. In addition the sector was growing at the rate of 7.7% from 1999-2000 to 2006-2007.
But there were other interesting bits of information that came out of that report which are not as widely repeated in the mainstream press. Amongst these was the fact that the level of understanding of the sector amongst the wider community was considered poor.
So the article appearing in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald (Tuesday 2nd April) by Kathryn Wicks did little to surprise me regarding the lighting of the Sydney Opera House to mark United Nations World Autism Awareness Day. Or should I say, the lack of support shown by politicians to fund the event (I'm sure there will be no lack of photo opportunities or commentary however on the evening - politicians appear to respond well to this as photo opportunities reinforce the message of what CAN BE DONE without supporting what IS done!) This is not the point of my comment here.
The point is that public awareness of the importance of the nonprofit sector, what it does, who it helps, how it goes about its activities, and the economic, political, and social environment and constraints within which it does so, should become more mainstream, especially if more and more public services are effectively 'outsourced' to the nonprofit sector. We should, as a society, better understand the attributes of one of the largest sectors of our economy. I think that the mining sector would attract far more attention and yet touches far fewer lives that the nonprofit sector. The former will eventually dwindle as the resources are extracted and dealt with. The latter will only grow, especially driven by demand. Putting this in perspective, in 2010 the mining sector contributed 8.4% to GDP and the nonprofit sector contributed 3.8% to GDP. Whilst slightly less than half, it is a contribution that ranks up there with the ones that everyone knows about. At another level the mining sector employs less than 3% of the Australian workforce compared to 8% in the nonprofit sector. These comparisons only reinforce that more Australians should understand the nonprofit sector better than they currently do - many rely on it on both sides of the supply/demand equation.
Where to from here?
One suggestion would be for the mainstream press to expand its focus on this sector in a slightly more coordinated and strategic fashion An example here would be the way the Sydney Morning Herald deals with Local Government. Every Tuesday, the SMH produces a dedicated section entitled "Local government" that captures key stories of that sector jobs and tenders. I note that this morning's paper contained stories about bottle plans for the environment, amalgamation issues facing the sector and smaller articles regarding roads, online approvals and something on community groups signing a petition.
Consider what a section on nonprofits could look like - examples of well run outfits across the country, stories of success at the organisational and individual level, challenges of staffing, career opportunities strategic partnerships and potential regular features of some of the less well-known nonprofit organisations that go about their business, Langley oblivious to outsiders other than those directly impacted by that organisation.
So there we go mainstream press. Who is up for the challenge?
At that time there were 600,000 organisations in the sector. 59,000 of these were economically significant. The sector contributed $43 billion annually to Australia's GDP and represented 8% of total employment in 2006-2007. In addition the sector was growing at the rate of 7.7% from 1999-2000 to 2006-2007.
But there were other interesting bits of information that came out of that report which are not as widely repeated in the mainstream press. Amongst these was the fact that the level of understanding of the sector amongst the wider community was considered poor.
So the article appearing in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald (Tuesday 2nd April) by Kathryn Wicks did little to surprise me regarding the lighting of the Sydney Opera House to mark United Nations World Autism Awareness Day. Or should I say, the lack of support shown by politicians to fund the event (I'm sure there will be no lack of photo opportunities or commentary however on the evening - politicians appear to respond well to this as photo opportunities reinforce the message of what CAN BE DONE without supporting what IS done!) This is not the point of my comment here.
The point is that public awareness of the importance of the nonprofit sector, what it does, who it helps, how it goes about its activities, and the economic, political, and social environment and constraints within which it does so, should become more mainstream, especially if more and more public services are effectively 'outsourced' to the nonprofit sector. We should, as a society, better understand the attributes of one of the largest sectors of our economy. I think that the mining sector would attract far more attention and yet touches far fewer lives that the nonprofit sector. The former will eventually dwindle as the resources are extracted and dealt with. The latter will only grow, especially driven by demand. Putting this in perspective, in 2010 the mining sector contributed 8.4% to GDP and the nonprofit sector contributed 3.8% to GDP. Whilst slightly less than half, it is a contribution that ranks up there with the ones that everyone knows about. At another level the mining sector employs less than 3% of the Australian workforce compared to 8% in the nonprofit sector. These comparisons only reinforce that more Australians should understand the nonprofit sector better than they currently do - many rely on it on both sides of the supply/demand equation.
Where to from here?
One suggestion would be for the mainstream press to expand its focus on this sector in a slightly more coordinated and strategic fashion An example here would be the way the Sydney Morning Herald deals with Local Government. Every Tuesday, the SMH produces a dedicated section entitled "Local government" that captures key stories of that sector jobs and tenders. I note that this morning's paper contained stories about bottle plans for the environment, amalgamation issues facing the sector and smaller articles regarding roads, online approvals and something on community groups signing a petition.
Consider what a section on nonprofits could look like - examples of well run outfits across the country, stories of success at the organisational and individual level, challenges of staffing, career opportunities strategic partnerships and potential regular features of some of the less well-known nonprofit organisations that go about their business, Langley oblivious to outsiders other than those directly impacted by that organisation.
So there we go mainstream press. Who is up for the challenge?
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