Responsibility !

Whatever happened to the notion that people given a responsible job were held accountable for the outcome ?

Highly placed operatives in the Health Department took Graeme Reeves lies when he applied for the obstetrics job at Bega and Pambula hospitals without bothering to make the necessary background checks.

Reeves got the appointment - and as a result hundreds of women were sexually abused - had genitalia mutilated - and some may have died. This could have been prevented had the civil servants responsible for the appointment done their job properly.

So - did anyone get the sack ? Was the Health minister banished to the back bench ?

Absolutely nothing happened. The state government protected it's own - and the Health minister is still in charge.

The public servants who were either incompetent or just plain lazy are members of a union - and in the union view no unionist is ever to blame for any sort of disaster. It is always someone else - and in this case the union tries to sheet home the blame to the government.

It's no different in the commercial world. The big - and greedy - banks have just announced the loss of billions of dollars as a result of the American sub-prime mortgage debacle.

Their CEO's are still in place - receiving obscene salaries - and they have the cheek to suggest that if interest rates fall they may not pass on the savings to mortgage holders because they will need the money to bolster their bottom lines.

Self funded retirees and those on superannuation have taken a big hit because of the incompetence of the banks and financial bodies - who lacked the insight to see this mess coming. But for those who failed in their jobs it is simply " business as usual ! "

We will never get good management practice while wrong doers are shielded from retribution in the commercial world and in government employ.

The first tenet of keeping people on the ball is the certainty that failure to maintain standards will result in unpleasant consequences - loss of a job and the income it provides - public disgrace - and possibly even gaol !

That is not even on the horizon - and until it is we will continue to court disaster as we live in a blameless society !