One thing that I got crankier and crankier about as the NSW election campaign proceeded was the constant repetition of the message - media included - that the NSW Government is or should be all about service delivery as though that was the end of the policy story. To me, this encapsulated the total policy failure on both sides that I have been trying to explain.
This really deserves a long post because it is a symptom of a broader problem, one not limited to NSW. But just to illustrate the point.
Is "law and order", to use a phrase favoured by both sides, simply an issue of service delivery? If so, what services are we talking about?
Is education simply an issue of service delivery? If so, what services are we talking about?
Is economic development, or its absence, simply an issue of service delivery? If so, what services are we talking about?
Are New England's poor towns, or the problems faced by NSW Aboriginal people, simply an issue of service delivery? I don't think so.
I won't go on. My point is that far too many people are caught in an intellectual trap, I almost wrote crap, that prevents them seriously thinking about the problems we face, the things we want to, or should want to, achieve.
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2 comments:
Indeed Jim, the politicians are there to serve the interests of their constituency. The public service is there to implement the politicians policies. Yep, there is a service failure on many levels. What are our options for the disillusioned electorate? Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum?
Lexcen, so long as parties define the role of politics and policy in terms of "service delivery" on its own,Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum will prevail.
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