Can’t Have Been Doing Much Then

A government department cutting its staff levels by one third is very strong evidence of overstaffing, lack of productivity, management incompetence and the irrelevance of a large proportion of its function.

Even the staff at the Department of Climate Change knew that many of their tasks were of negligible (or even negative) value. So did the government. But instead of exercising its duty to the taxpayers and shedding unproductive staff, then responsible minister Penny Wong wasted another $175,000 of our money on a consultant’s report into departmental morale. To add to this insult, new Climate Change and Energy minister Greg Combet has now provided a de facto admission of the waste by sacking one third of the department.

Even though the cuts are part of 1500 public service job losses, 300 jobs in the Department of Climate Change are 20% of that total. None of the other departments lost a third of their staff. That’s because the Department of Climate Change itself is unnecessary.

It’s the epitome of the left’s model: respond to problems by creating a huge bureaucracy, preferably with a whole new department, many of whom will be middle level management and utterly useless. Produce mountains of regulations, policy and procedure, instead of actual research and investment. A gigantic fart-fest of technocratic socialism; the great rule making enterprise in action.

If you’re going to have a carbon tax, then you’ll need staff to administer it. But shouldn’t that be done by the ATO?

Climate change research? Fund university departments and the CSIRO adequately through research grants. That’s where you’ll get the most sensible, comprehensive research. If you want some economic analysis, commission the Reserve Bank.

Solar and wind power schemes? The Department of Energy should administer them, after a budget audit from Treasury.

Government venture capitalizing key green power industries like solar panel manufacturers and geothermal power stations? They haven’t yet done this. They already should have.

Where’s this Renewable Energy Fund? It could be making some very useful investments. I bet it has enough staff of its own. But what are they doing? Not much, as far as I can tell.

An equity investment in Silex Solar Panels to prevent the factory’s closure? Didn’t happen. 45 jobs lost. Hopefully they will support Tindo Solar.

Geodynamics has received some government grants, but more sensible would have been an equity investment when it needed to raise capital.

All the departments and institutions necessary to handle climate change policy already existed. It just needed some competent, innovative people to be employed within the ministry to co-ordinate the plan (if there is one).

But no, we’ll create a whole new department, so bloated that even its own staff cannot deceive themselves as to the value of its output, then quietly decommission it, though not before a few hundred million dollars of our taxes have been wasted.

New Greens’ leader Christine Milne said the government:

“Should not be sacking people whose job it is to help protect the climate. It's hard to see how the carbon price and investments in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency can be rolled out effectively if the Department of Climate Change loses a third of its staff.”

I can see how: as discussed above.

I suppose the saving grace is that the extreme left is not in charge of climate policy implementation. If Christine Milne had her way, the Department of Climate Change staff would have gone from 900 to 6000, not 600.