Article: Department is breaking down

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From the Sunday Mail click here!

Department is breaking down

Department is breaking down
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

By Darrell Giles

June 15, 2008 12:00am

QUEENSLAND Transport is one of the State Government's worst departments.
In a high-level review it scored poorly in six important areas, including planning and strategy, resource management, performance measurement and leadership.

The Service Delivery and Performance Commission report came just days before long-serving director-general of transport Bruce Wilson was moved to a new role. Premier Anna Bligh announced on Tuesday that Mr Wilson would become the interim chief executive of the new Public Service Commission after spending 12 years in charge of the transport department.

The service-delivery commission has been reviewing departments to find ways to streamline the public service.

The most recent reviews included Transport, Main Roads, Police, Emergency Services and Employment and Industrial Relations.

The Transport evaluation was completed last week and contained damning findings.

Sources told The Sunday Mail that Transport scored just one out of four in four areas, and two out of four in another two categories.

Some of the comments included: "Planning is . . . typically done as a compliance exercise rather than as a valued part of business", and ". . . the quality and appropriateness of (performance) measures requires improvement" and "leadership capability may be variable across the organisation and not well aligned".

The final report will be tabled in Parliament before the end of the year.

However Opposition transport spokesman Tim Nicholls urged the Government to release the findings now.

"There have been very strong rumours for some time about a highly critical report pointing the finger at the Transport Department under Labor," Mr Nicholls said.

"The Government needs to release the report, warts and all, and not provide a sanitised, politically-acceptable version."

Mr Wilson's 19 years as a director-general with the Queensland Government were recognised last week with an Australia Medal in the Queen's Birthday honours. In a message to staff on Tuesday, Mr Wilson said his move from QT was "not a decision I have taken lightly".

Dave Stewart, deputy director-general in the Premier's Department, will take over from Mr Wilson in an acting capacity. Ms Bligh said he will head new congestion-busting initiatives.

A spokesman for Transport Minister John Mickel said the commission report had not been finalised.

"Nor have the scores for the different categories been finalised. The commission has advised the report will be finalised later this year," he said.

"The commission begins the review in a provocative and challenging way, then the department has a chance to make its case and introduce ways they can address concerns . . . the final report usually is very different to the first draft, and a more accurate depiction of the department's performance.

"This matter has no relevance to Bruce Wilson's new role. Mr Wilson was director-general of QT for more than 12 successful years and now takes on the role of setting up the Public Service Commission."

My blog comment:

This confirms our observations of the transport failures that is Queensland and Translink.  I am hoping that the new TransLink Transit Authority is a clean break from the failings of QT and Translink (I hope it is a separate organisation from QT) and the TTA gets on with sorting out the public transport that Queensland properly deserves.

Thanks to the Courier Mail for highlighting what has been obvious to transport users (all) for a long time ...