A COMMUNITY-spirited person from Dubbo was so moved by the plight of those livestock producers who have had their properties burned out, they decided they wanted to donate 100 bales of hay.
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The person then got on the telephone and thus began a series of bureaucratic shuffling that took up 40 minutes of valuable time with little or no impact.
The first phone call started with the Department of Primary Industries office on the north coast near the Queensland border. A series of call transfers ended up in Deniliquin, 40 minutes later with the good-hearted caller declaring they were going to give it a miss.
To be fair most of the people spoken with at the DPI offered to take the person's name and number and call back with details, but in the long run, a fair bit of time was expended for no result.
It seemed to be a classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.
We're sure any lumps and bumps for the fodder donation program should be sorted out by the weekend's end. But wouldn't it be simpler to make sure all the boxes are ticked before letting fly with the media statement?
THE announcement of the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard was an will be an important step on this journey.
There is a sincere hope the Royal Commission will give the victims of child sexual abuse some hope for their future.
However, it should not be a witch hunt, rather it should be seen as an important step towards cleaning up a mess that has, to date been swept under the carpet.