TERRY MILLS – A UNIQUE POLITICAN

Terry offers a rational, reasoned, political viewpoint. He does not have the awful, unreasonable, illogical and bullying ‘two edged tongue’ which is the affliction of many politicans. Neither does he winge, whine, or go in for playing the unrequited blame game. He is a decent, honourable person who offers solutions to problems. Terry Mills is a deep thinker and a person who is empathetic in his dealings toward others.

He is a unique person because he brings dignity to the political position he fills. He is not filled with soul destrpying bitterness or hatred toward those who brought him down as Chief Minister of the NT. He has lived through circumstances which would have utterly destroyed others and come out stronger and better on the other side.

The NT needs politicans like Terry Mills.

Tossing Chief Minister Terry Mills aside was a blight on the NT Country Liberal Party.

Water going under the party bridge still remains muddled. Now it emerges that Terry Mills and others who were (or may have been) CLP stalwarts, want to establish a conservatively based Northern Alliance party – or similar.

If this manoeuvre is destined to work, it will work. If predestination determines otherwise, this initiative will not gain traction and will fade into oblivion. No one can tell the end from the beginning.

To this day I regret that Terry Mills was undone by the ambitions of others. The personal ambitions of others,  destroyed the synergy that might have grown from a Mills Government allowed time to mature and develop.

To this day, I cannot understand why members of the CLP political wing allowed the situation that followed Mills dumping to unfold. Seems to me that they had some sort of collective political death wish.

No worries! All the failed ministers then came away with the title of ‘Honourable’ forever pinned to their names.

This era was one of sadness for the NT.

And we have not as yet recovered. Elements of political wilderness continue to manifest themselves in the NT.

THE HIDDEN ‘ALBATROSS’ OF DEBT AUSTRALIA CARRIES

It struck me today. …!

(Thanks to former Governor General Peter Hollingsworth)

This past GG receives a pension of $350,000 per year plus office plus other support.

ALL past GG’s and of course Governors at State level receive huge post office benefits.

So do do past Prime Ministers and all other retired politicans.

The debt we carry for past politicans and political appointees run to hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

Not all receive the same taxpayer funded largesse but the gross of the burden borne by treasury is HUGE.

And I imagine that some benefits, on the passing of the beneficiary, transfer to immediate family.

We are saddled, and then some, with what those who have been part of our political scene continue to draw.

(And many were at best mediocre performers while in office.)

DON’T TELL ME THIS IS NOT A HUGE AND GROWING DRAIN ON THE FINANCES OF THIS COUNTRY.

This is but part of the story of the benefits that, for even shorter term politicans, become long term, ongoing remunerative benefits.

SCOTT MORRISON, 50 DAYS AS PM – IS HIS GOVERNMENT END-DATED?

YESTERDAY October 10, was Scott Morrison’s 50th as our Prime Minister. My personal feeling is that he deserves plaudits for trying hard and that his ‘going to the people’ is his strong suite. He rubs shoulders with ordinary people and speaks their language.

That counts, but is it too little too late to make any real difference when the next federal election is called?

Wentworth next Saturday could see the Morrison Government become a minority government. That will not help the incumbents for the few months remaining until the next federal election takes place.

As a person who is apolitical, I forecast that it won’t be long until Bill Shorten is PM – and then, if propagandists have any forecasting credibility, the whole of Australia will enter into an ‘everlasting’ song of rejoicement.

The thinking seems to be that Bill Shorten, the panacea PM, will fix it for all Australians. Are we all citizens in waiting for him to lead us from dire mire into the figurative promised land of a new era.

”King Bill’, we are your faithful and waiting adherents’ is, I think, about which the majority of voting Australians are obsessing.
11/10/2018

DON’T DISCOUNT THE PAST

I think it would be worthwhile if governments considered establishing a long term Territorian reference group for reasons explained in the following.

The idea was discussed with me about a year ago. It transpired that we (the other pers on and I) were both concerned about the number of new beaut ideas for Territory development being articulated, that are a revisitation of whati has already been tried and discarded.

The Issue

The rebirth ‘as new’ of old and dispensed with ideas occurs in large part because of ignorance about our history. One of the standout examples to illustrate my point is that of the CBD and particularly the mall having been re-visited at least four times during my time in the Northern Territory. There are other examples to do with our infrastructure development that have been similarly revisited.

Within departments, the same sort of thing happens. I’m most familiar with education. The idea of regionalising (decentralising function) educational management has been tried at least three times. When revisited nobody takes account of what has gone before. They often don’t know that ideas have been previously tried. That’s because we have a very poor record of recording history in the NT.

Another reason for regurgitation is that people in high level decision making positions often come and go after fairly short periods of time. People new to these positions often don’t know what has gone before. As well, they are often interested in adding their own “personal touch” for the sake of building curriculum vitaes. which will then be used to gain positions elsewhere and generally not in the Territory. The Territory is used as a stepping stone.

The Fix Idea

It seemed as we spoke about this issue, that the Northern Territory Government might give consideration to establishing a group of people who are long-term residents in the Northern Territory. This group might be asked if there is any previous history about ideas being flashed out as “new beaut schemes“.

Our thought was this group might comprise people with background into the operation of various departments and with experience in life and living in the Northern Territory in general terms.

Neither might it be necessary for people to meet physically to consider every issue, rather being asked for feedback by email or by phone on occasion. This will enable people living out of Darwin and Palmerston to be involved.

Our thought wasn’t that this group should be remunerated; that’s not the motivation of everybody who wants to support our territory and see it is a better place. The thinking was that in the interests of avoiding mistakes, particularly where those mistakes might arise from revisiting previous policy that had been discarded, a group of such a nature could lend itself to the betterment of the Territory.

I wanted to share this and wonder what people might think about such an idea.

EUTHANASIA – A LETTER TO KEVIN ANDREWS
I am a believer in and supporter of Euthanasia. I wrote the following letter to Kevin Andrews some time ago and share the text.

Dear Mr Andrews

For a long time I have been distressed by the fact that you saw fit to introduce a private member’s bill into the Federal Parliament during the Howard years, which went to the overturning of the Northern Territory Euthanasia Bill. This is a matter about which I have harboured resentment for many years.

The NT Euthanasia Laws were well shaped and carefully structured by our then Chief Minister Marshall Perron. It was a day of relief rather than rejoicement when those laws were enacted into legislation.

In opposite vein, it was a day of rather astounded and disbelieving sadness, yet inevitability, when your private member’s bill got its overriding guernsey in Federal Parliament. I do not know if this bill was your own initiative or whether you were prevailed upon to move it to the parliament by other members of the Coalition. In any case, the rescinding of our most reasonable NT Act did our Territory and Northern Territorians a great disservice.

It is interesting that, by degree, the world is starting to catch up with Mr Perron’s ‘Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill’, which became part of our law over 20 years ago.

I have just turned 70. In my time, members of my family have passed in sad circumstances during which their rationality and their humanity was progressively dismantled by creeping loss of body and mind. I have seen that happen for many people and my awareness grows with advancing age.

For mine, I am desirous of incorporating into the provisions of my hastening old age, a provision that should I become totally incapable or demented, to the point of my reliance on life becoming the full responsibility of others, that I be allowed to decline my mortality: That I be allowed this as a legitimate right to determine, while still of sound body and mind.

Your bill stripped me of a basic human right and the possibility of action that should be an entitlement. I was deeply disappointed in what you did then. That disappointment remains until this day.

Sincerely
Henry Gray

11 March 2016
Mr Andrews eventually replied in a nondescript manner. Just to tell me in broad brush terms that the Federal Parliament acting on its operational principles, scuttled one of the wisest, most decent and empathetic pieces of legislation ever introduced into any Australian Parliament.

I still seethe about Mr Andrews and the Federal Parliament for mechanically and unreasonably brushing aside the Marshall Perron Euthanasia Bill. Few things in my life have been unforgivable. This matter is an exception.

REFLECTIONS ON LEADERSHIP

As a retired old man, I wanted to share these thoughts. Actions based on these reflections stood me in good stead over many years of organisational leadership.
* Be a listener.
* Lead by action.
* Walk the walk. (Walking the walk is more important than talking the talk when walking is not part of that talking.)
* Offer praise.
* Catch people doing something good so praise can be offered.
* Share celebrations with staff and associates.
* Take ownership of issues needing attention before molehills become mountains.
* Delegate decisions not just tasks.
* Know about each workplace associate and be known to them.
* Write notes of thanks.
* Let people know why you have to do what you do with regard to imposed system.
* Understand policy and direction.
____________________________

ON STEALING IDEAS

As a senior citizen now retired, I sometimes reflect upon my ideas and creations that have been picked up and “owned” by others; my thoughts and point raised in conversation, sometimes in high places, for which others have taken the credit.

A number of years ago we had a dicey situation at my school of where asbestos was discovered in walls of modules. They had been previous “discovered“ in other schools resulting in a whole lot of community furore and angst.

I put into place as Principal certain strategies to manage the issue. The most major was making making sure that the community was kept fairly and intimately aware of what was going on and what arrangements have been put in place to safeguard children while overcoming the problem.

There was no negative publicity and everything went very smoothly. My processes and modus operandi well then take it on board (Without my knowledge) by the Department of Education Media and Marketing division. They developed a submission about how well “they” had managed the situation at my school and put together an application for recognition of “their” job well done on a public relations fun. This was submitted to the Public Relations Institute of Australia and Earned and award for a PR Job well done.

I only found out about all this many years later when in retirement I was doing some tracking around on the Department of Education website. I “discovered“ the work that had been done by media and marketing based on my experiences.

That stands out to me as probably the boldest representation of this nature.

There have been many other instances in addition to the foregoing.  I’ll cite just one.

These days, the Australian Primary Principals Association has a “Principal for the Day” program where a student takes over the principles job in a school for the day. That little innovation came a good seven right years after I’d introduced the idea into my school and had  been practising it annually as a program involving students.

I went one step further however. When a student at my place for the day, I took the student’s place for the day, returned to the classroom and became a kid. We used to get lots of media about the program, organised as it was with the student body by the Student Representative Council.

I’m glad the idea grew legs-but where did the idea come from! Especially as I said, the idea in the universal sense was picked up many years after it had been standard practice at my school.

I have no resentment about these things but an bemused by these sorts of happenings.

YOU NEVER HEAR FROM THEM AGAIN

As a long-term Northern Territory resident and a contributor to education pre-retirement for 36 years (and post retirement in various capacities for six years since) I am often asked for an opinion or comment on various issues. These matters have had to do with general territory living, with education and with matters relating to more rural and remote areas of the territory (where we worked for quite a number of years before coming to Darwin).

One of the things I find bemusing is that while people are quite willing to ask for input, if that input is provided, there is rarely if any feedback on outcomes nor the benefit of that advice may have offered.

That’s not a case of asking over and over for thanks. It is however a case of being appreciated and people knowing that you’re interested in the outcomes of the conversations or meetings, where advice given has been a part of the discussion.

Is this a case of being appreciated or simply used?

Recently, there has been wide ranging discussion on School Based Policing and the need for it to be returned as a program in Northern Territory schools. This is the subject in which I’ve been deeply interested for many years both from the viewpoint of being a practitioner and a student who wrote on the subject during a Masters university course.

I have shared my thoughts on request with a lot of people.

Following quite intense conversations between the government, the Northern Territory Police, the Council of Government Schools Organisation and others the program has been reinstated and guidelines developed for its re-introduction.

I did receive verbal thanks from COGSO.

What crystallised my thoughts on this topic was receiving an email copy of the new guidelines from Thomas Moorhead who is advisor to the Leader of the Opposition Gary Higgins, in the Northern Territory Parliament. I really appreciated sent these guidelines and reflected upon just how rare it is to receive follow up and feedback from those to whom assistance has been provided.

Responses of this nature are, unfortunately, all too rare these days. For the provider of input the process has a beginning (request for support) middle (assumption of the negotiations that follow) but no ending.

This is unfortunately a modern day trend that should be recognised and put to rights. However, I doubt that there will be any change.

YOU NEVER HEAR FROM THEM AGAIN … UNTIL THEY WANT ANOTHER FAVOUR!