"This is the way it works: never attempt to justify your actions or respond to criticisms, just bribe your allies and defame your detractors." You've nailed it - the Trump method, pure and simple. "If I think it, it must be correct" seems to be the form of magical thinking involved.
Great article John. It makes me think of the saga of the Museums of the History NSW (formerly Sydney Living Museums and before that Historic Houses Trust of NSW) over the past 15 years. Declining visitation, withdrawal of tens of millions of dollars in bequests, scholarship substantially abandoned, over $20 million lavished on an upgrade of the Hyde Park Barracks, property opening hours reduced, over $4m spent on staff redundancies to get rid of the most experienced staff, two changes of names in about 10 years, the membership program abandoned with the loss of some 8,000 members, the Foundation seemingly abolished, the Endangered Houses Fund abandoned, six Directors in 14 years - four of whom left at short notice under unexplained circumstances and the same number Captains picks by a Minister with no recruitment process. And so much more. All of this accompanied by a lot of self-congratulatory fluff in its Annual Reports. Yet not a single word of this litany of disasters from the Sydney Morning Herald.
I would have thought the 'Museums of History' was a disaster, Peter, but now it looks like a mere trial run for the Powerhouse debacle. If there'd been a more concerted attempt to combat the M of H abuses, the govt. might have hesitated ever so slightly with the PHM, which looks like it'll be an all-time implosion.
Being from Victoria and therefore largely ignorant of the details of NSW political history, I would love to know the reason/s for the adoption and expansion of this enormous boondoggle. I suppose it’s something like the Victorian Grand Prix, its history of being initially opposed by Labor, financially and environmentally disastrous, uncritically supported by both Murdoch and Fairfax media, then uncritically expanded once they got into power seems just about identical. Who benefits and how?
That's a very good, commonsense question. Who benefits? Lisa Havilah and her close personal friends, a few diehards in Parramatta business circles. John Graham thinks it's great for the ALP, but he's dreaming. In the long term, everybody loses from this absurd and massively expensive exercise in state-sponsored megalomania
John, what you fail to realise is that diversity, inclusion and plurality cost a lot of money. But it's worth it.
For example; wouldn't you rather your neurosurgeon be selected on the basis of diversity, inclusion and pluraility, rather than competence?
The Powerhouse has a long history of championing diversity, inclusion and plurality (DIP)
Dawn looks petty benign in comparison to the current ideological regime!
That’s true, at least she didn’t break the furniture or tear the walls down.
I amended my comment.
She didn't break anything, but mostly didn't attempt to build a billion dollar white elephant in Parramatta.
"This is the way it works: never attempt to justify your actions or respond to criticisms, just bribe your allies and defame your detractors." You've nailed it - the Trump method, pure and simple. "If I think it, it must be correct" seems to be the form of magical thinking involved.
Simple truth is no longer sexy
Some of this has resonance with the Catholic Church's handling of the sexual abuse issues, the rest is fairly classic communist governance.
It's touching how all these diverse ideological extremisms end up in the same place
Great article John. It makes me think of the saga of the Museums of the History NSW (formerly Sydney Living Museums and before that Historic Houses Trust of NSW) over the past 15 years. Declining visitation, withdrawal of tens of millions of dollars in bequests, scholarship substantially abandoned, over $20 million lavished on an upgrade of the Hyde Park Barracks, property opening hours reduced, over $4m spent on staff redundancies to get rid of the most experienced staff, two changes of names in about 10 years, the membership program abandoned with the loss of some 8,000 members, the Foundation seemingly abolished, the Endangered Houses Fund abandoned, six Directors in 14 years - four of whom left at short notice under unexplained circumstances and the same number Captains picks by a Minister with no recruitment process. And so much more. All of this accompanied by a lot of self-congratulatory fluff in its Annual Reports. Yet not a single word of this litany of disasters from the Sydney Morning Herald.
I would have thought the 'Museums of History' was a disaster, Peter, but now it looks like a mere trial run for the Powerhouse debacle. If there'd been a more concerted attempt to combat the M of H abuses, the govt. might have hesitated ever so slightly with the PHM, which looks like it'll be an all-time implosion.
Being from Victoria and therefore largely ignorant of the details of NSW political history, I would love to know the reason/s for the adoption and expansion of this enormous boondoggle. I suppose it’s something like the Victorian Grand Prix, its history of being initially opposed by Labor, financially and environmentally disastrous, uncritically supported by both Murdoch and Fairfax media, then uncritically expanded once they got into power seems just about identical. Who benefits and how?
That's a very good, commonsense question. Who benefits? Lisa Havilah and her close personal friends, a few diehards in Parramatta business circles. John Graham thinks it's great for the ALP, but he's dreaming. In the long term, everybody loses from this absurd and massively expensive exercise in state-sponsored megalomania