Glenn Milne says the Rudd Government is almost dysfunctional, and can’t keep its staff:
(T)he staff turnover rate among government personal staffers is 19 per cent: 63 out of 329. And the staff turnover rate of (departmental liaison officers) is a staggering 38 per cent: 27 out of 71…
Since January, the administration has cast off five chiefs of staff, all from critically important portfolios…
Rudd personally has had a 19 per cent staff turnover in his first 10 months as PM… Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a 33 per cent staff turnover rate in her first 10 months… And for Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, the number is a truly worrying 50 per cent.
Milne concludes:
The point here is that the Government is obviously no bunch of happy campers. To the contrary. The relentless pace at which Rudd is driving his team is also clearly driving key people away. And in the medium to long term, this is not a good thing for the Government or the country…
Apart from the loss of valuable corporate memory, the thing about this killer pace is that it does not lead to good decision-making… It also leads to another inevitable conclusion: that the Government is being run at the level of officials by a bunch of 20-somethings who don’t have families and can sustain the energy needed to keep up with Rudd. But, with all due respect, what good are childless 20-somethings when it comes to real-world political judgments about what are for them the otherworldly lives of ordinary Australians?
And the bureaucrats marvel:
In Canberra, bureaucrats are amazed at the disconnect between Rudd’s poll figures and what they see as a largely dysfunctional Government.
