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Incoming New South Wales Corrective Services Minister John Robertson has ordered a $500,000 refurbishment of his CBD office despite the state’s parlous financial position.
The size of the office stimulus has drawn some criticism, but given the depth of the crisis, anything less would risk exposing the powerful former union boss to deflation.
The question of how to organise ministerial offices on Level 35 of Governor Macquarie Tower has proved one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, leading many to suggest that there is only one solution: partition.
No-one is disputing that the Corrective Services Minister needs a nice office, however, given the large workload he will face from day one. Mr Robertson has made clear that he will be pretty much “living at work” and that he expects most of the other people at NSW prisons to do the same.
Mr Robertson has dismissed the $500,000 price tag as insignificant. Allowing for job-and-knock, featherbedding, overmanning and other rorts, half a million is probably only enough to employ a unionised contractor for 90 minutes, tops.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Robertson is considered the government’s star recruit. The thinking within Labor is that if Mr Robertson can use the union movement to kill off any hope of the party winning re-election, imagine what he could help the party do to the unions.
As Corrective Services Minister and Special Minister of State for Public Sector Reform, Mr Robertson, who led the fight against electricity privatisation last year, will be in charge of privatising parts of the state’s prison system. It just goes to show that at NSW Corrective Services, the punishment always fits the crime.
John Robertson is concerned that his new office, in the landmark Governor Macquarie Tower, isn't fancy enough.
