Public Servants on Parade! - 17 Oct 2016

I was sorting some of my email archive the other day and discovered an email regarding the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA)'s 2013 "A Day in the Life of a Public Servant" photo competition. (It's true! See here: http://www.ipaa2013.org.au/get-involved/photography-competition)

 

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the winning picture. I expect it will be something like:

* Winifred, a teacher, helping a disadvantaged pupil read the word 'antidisestablishmentarianism'. (Qld Dept of Education)

* Tracy, a part-time nurse, performing an emergency tracheotomy using her Vercingetorix knife to stop a patient dying (NSW Health Dept)

* George, an animal welfare officer, supervising the burning of animal carcasses following a foot-and-mouth outbreak (WA Dept of Agriculture)

* Brenda, a quarantine officer, inspecting a newly-imported high-end goat (Andie the Angora - see photo below) for lice and fleas (AQIS)

 

Whilst these are all noble enterprises, I am sure the winning photo would have missed some of the more important moments in the Day in the Life of a typical public servant. Here are some photos that didn't make the final cut:

* John, an accountant, looking through his agency's Enterprise Agreement for the bit on special leave

* Jenny, a Customer Service Representative, slicing up her apple for morning tea

* Jeffrey, a Communications Liaison Interface Representative, emailing a colleague regarding access to the folder where the emails about access to the folder are kept

* Rajeev, a Public Affairs Officer, talking to the boys in the office about his win in the family table-tennis tournament

* Roderick, an IT Technician, closing an internal IT service request because it's not part of his touchpoint service delivery responsibility

* Ismail, a Special Advisor to the Minister, photocopying responses to an FOI request from the Sydney Morning Herald regarding travel expenditure

* Percy, a Technician, carefully counting the Twirl bars still unsold from the branch social club's chocolate drive

* Tony, a Contract Administrator, logging a job to get the toilet soap dispenser to work for the whole day, not just mornings

* Lance, an Interfacing Supervisor, commenting to colleague Josh about how filthy the windows are

* Constance, a Trainer, ordering room service from a hotel room in Nowra whilst on a work-related visit to deliver Ethics training to local staff

* Keegan, a WHS representative, laminating posters on how to avoid overheating the laminator by laminating posters warning of overheating laminators

* Barry, a Customer Service Officer, finding his flex sheet on the Department's information retrieval system

* Debbie, an Enforcement Compliance Cooperator, requesting extra sprinkles on her donut at 7-Eleven during down-time after a raid

* Derek, a Compliance Purveyer/Initiator, completing a compensation claim relating to a fall resulting from the half-squished kiwifruit on the staircase left by ...

* Jonathan, a Personal Assistant, gazing out of the window at the Commonwealth flag, fluttering in a light south-wester

* Barbara, a Business Analyst, writing a business case to allow recruitment of two more business analysts to write business cases justifying other business cases

* Tony, a Contract Administrator, carefully crafting an analogy involving apples, oranges, and a supermarket bakery section