What exactly should the government be running?

[Julia]

Most definitely. If there was some responsible, strong but fair leadership coming from the top, I think that most employees would respond. I believe that there would still be a minority of people who simply wouldn't care and would continue to push for all they could get, but on the whole things would improve dramatically.

We need to cut down on the beauracracy - reduce the number of pen pushers and increase the number of people 'on the ground', get some commonsense and workable policies in place, make employees feel valued, make them feel like they have a voice and that their opinions matter, give them goals to work towards, treat all workers fairly - everyone plays by the same rules, reduce the gap between management and field staff (that whole us and them mentality) and get management to stand behind their employees when warranted.

But also make them responsible - give them reasonable consequences for inappropriate attitudes, help them realise that the government is not an endless pit of money and give them credit for excellent work.

Ideally, the end result would be to increase efficiency, reduce wastage, increase productivity, improve communication, develop strong teamwork and increase employee satisfaction - both job and self.

And I believe that it can be done.

Couldn't agree more, White Crane. Eliminating the 'us and them' mentality would be a good start. Hope you work in human resources.

 

[darnsmall]

Good question, maybe we need an independent study into where the governments strengths over the private sector are and divide up the responsibilities.

Between Tokyo and Sydney I've been shown the difference between Privately run Public Transport and Government Run...Tokyo's private system kicks ****. So I'd say public transport is one thing the government shouldn't be running. It would be interesting to see what else should be sold off/out sourced.
End of the day the problem with the government; both sides...I don't know how confident I am that they have the experience to run the suite of portfolios they are meant to look after, and I don't think they're very good at contracting and outsourcing work in areas where they need help/assistance. How do you make a better politician? I like the idea of having the people that work in the field the SME's having a greater say, that might be a start. How could a health minister without a wide range of experience in the public and private sector in the front line and snr managing roles; hope to make a worth wile difference? I think they could if they were a highly trained and experienced analyst...some how I doubt these backgrounds aren't something our current crop of politicians poses.

 

[Glen48]

Bring in CGT on houses above 300k on a sliding scale after all houses only increase by 1 % over 50 yrs.

 

[Calliope]

It is inevitable that any business run by the govt. or a govt. instrumentality will be very wasteful. People running a business where their income does not depend on the profitability of that business will be very lax and this will lead inevitably to featherbedding and corruption.

The same applies to heavily taxpayer subsidised enterprises like ABC Learning, which only encourages sloppy management or worse.

 

[white_crane]

Couldn't agree more, White Crane. Eliminating the 'us and them' mentality would be a good start. Hope you work in human resources.

I don't work in human resources. Perhaps I should be? I haven't found my calling yet.