NSW Court IT blunder

This isn’t a surprise. I’ve heard a lot of stories about inept government departments using inept, and corrupt suppliers who overcharge and underperform. I’d be interested to see the specification documents for this project just to see how big it really is.

THE NSW Government ignored warnings about potential risks associated with a computer network linking the state’s courts and ordered an unproven version of a system that is set to cost taxpayers an extra $3.3 million due to blow-outs and delays.Leaked government documents show that NSW rejected a system in use in Queensland and instead bought one that had been developed by failed software company LawNow Ltd. Work on the computer network, which is now known as Courtlink, has been under way for five years and is not expected to be complete until next year.Consultant James Ryan, through his company Equanimity Consultants, had been working on information technology issues for the department for just a few months.

His letter of resignation says: “There is a clear perception in the businesses with whom I have met that we have not been fair in the allocation of business and that favouritism has been shown.”

 At that stage, Mr Glanfield said the original estimated cost of the system was $41.5 million and the current estimated cost was $44.8 million.

Source: Australian IT

State Government spends $550,000 on bottled water

Seriously, when did we become too good for tap water?

If you’re afraid of all the nasties in the water (which will only make you stronger and more resistant to disease), then they should install a filtration system in the kitchen/bathroom (which some departments have, yet they continue to buy bottled water!)

MELBOURNE enjoys Australia’s finest drinking water, yet the State’s public servants appear to prefer the bottled variety — and lots of it.

Documents obtained by The Sunday Age show that taxpayers have spent more than $500,000 on bottled water for bureaucrats over the past four years.

The thirstiest agencies were the Department of Human Services ($137,092); police headquarters ($104,498) and the Department of Justice ($96,859).

Bureaucrats say much of the water is consumed by public visitors. But the true amount spent on bottles is much higher because the documents, obtained under freedom-of-information legislation, do not include areas such as local police and other emergency stations, schools, other agencies or water bought with meal allowances or petty cash.

” … due to the large number of personnel who purchase and process the payments it is inevitable that some purchases may not be identified,” says a response to the FoI request from the Victoria Police.

Even departments such as Infrastructure, which have filtered drinking water in their kitchens, spent thousands on bottled water. Eleven key state departments spent $550,504 on bottled water, dispensers and other drinks over the past four years, the documents show. The lion’s share was spent on water, with $35,843 going to soft drink manufacturers Coca-Cola Amatil and Cadbury Schweppes.

Source: The Age

Government spends $1.5 billion on ads

And possibly air conditioning for parliament house…

The Howard government has spent more than twice as much money on advertising compared to climate change, Labor says.

Labor’s public accountability spokesman Kelvin Thomson said the government was about to become the first in Australia’s history to spend $1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money on government advertising.

Senate estimates revealed it had already spent $1.27 billion until this financial year, and a further $250 million was buried in the budget papers for 2006-2007, Mr Thomson said.

“At the same time, we know the government has only spent some $670 million on climate change,” he said.

As a member of the creative/advertising industry, in some way I benefit from that $1.5 billion dollars – but that’s just a stupid amount to be spending on self congratulatory advertising and political hot air.

To give you an idea of how much that is in real terms, imagine the average Australian salary is around $35,000 – you would need over 42,857 people contributing every cent they earn this financial year to reach that amount – or 2,228,564 people contributing 1 weeks earnings.

Source: The Age

MP uses taxpayers money to bone teenage boys

If this MP is guilty, not only is it wasteful - it’s criminal.

Sacked NSW government minister Milton Orkopoulos used taxpayer funds to repeatedly pay a teenage boy for sex, a court has been told.

In explosive allegations aired in Newcastle Local Court, Orkopoulos was accused by police of sexually abusing two teenage boys and supplying them with drugs between 1997 and 2005.

[snip]

The bulk of the charges relate to one teenager, who was 15 when he was first allegedly abused by Orkopoulos.

The four remaining charges are based on a second teenager whom Orkopoulos unsuccessfully propositioned for sex.

Police allege the principal victim was paid about $250 per week by Orkopoulos for sexual favours by the time he was aged 18.

So if we do the math on that: $250 for say 50 weeks a year (hey, even perverts get annual leave, right?) for 3 years – that’s $37, 500 of our money gone up some poor kids’ bum. Hopefully some fat guy named “Tiny” will repay the favour if old Milty gets convincted.

Source: The Age

Senator has eight publically funded mobile phones

Can you imagine the headset required for that amount of phones?

 A NATIONALS senator says he only has eight taxpayer-funded mobile phones – not nine.

Boswell only has 8 taxpayer-funded mobiles By Peter Veness A NATIONALS senator says he only has eight taxpayer-funded mobile phones – not nine.

Queensland Senator Ron Boswell’s holding was revealed in a Senate estimates committee hearing today when Labor accused the Nationals’ senate leader of holding nine government-issued mobiles.

“I take it that the figure of seven extra mobile phones issued to Senator Boswell is in his role as leader of the National Party (in the senate) and are in addition to the other two mobile phones allocated to Senator Boswell,” Labor’s Robert Ray asked government officials appearing before the committee.

Source: The Australian

Vigilance through Improvidence.

Welcome. Improvidence is a blog dedicated to documenting blunders made by Federal, State, and Local governments in Australia. This is a place for all government employees to expose their masters, and all those frivolous things they spend our money on.

Are you aware of an extravagant end of financial year spending spree? Has your department consistently given contracts to the highest bidder, where cheaper alternatives were available? Have you witnessed any kind of favouritism/nepotism towards contractors? Are you aware of staff using government equipment/time for their own personal use? Are you aware of any cover-ups?

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