Australian bureaucracy plans to be on duty ...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/1999/04/item19990407174242_1.htm

relevant quote:

"Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett plans to spend New Year's Eve at his desk, ready to tackle any problems caused by the year 2000 computer bug.

The Victorian Premier says his plans to celebrate in a more exotic location have been sidelined by one of his senior staff members.

"My permanent head said to me he'll be at his desk," Mr Kennett said. "And I said, what do you mean, you'll be at your desk?.

"He said, 'well, I've cancelled leave for all the senior public servants. We will be here'.

"And we are going to be here, because we can't, with any certainty, predict whether we're going to get through the night, the day, the next day, the day after.

"So therefore, my idea of being on top of Ayers Rock or anywhere else has been cancelled and I'll be at my office as well," he said. "

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 07, 1999

Answers

Jeff Kennett is our Rudy Guiliani. Liberal Party, but he's more of a libertarian than a conservative. Very popular and for a damn good reason: he rebuilt the Victorian economy from an utter shambles to the best in the country.

I would not be surprised if Kennett released a warning for people to stock up on several days food and maybe some batteries. He's not politically correct. He's not even a career politician -although I'd like to see him go higher, I think he said something about going back to business after his current term as Premier expires.

That Ayers Rock comment he made is kinda amusing, actually. Not long ago, the Aborigines said something about how they didn't want anyone climbing "their" rock. Kennett spoke out against this politically-correct minority, saying that he enjoyed climbing the Rock and wants to do it again sometime.

I like the guy ;)

So I consider it to be damn good news. Kennett is widely respected and popular. People in Victoria seem to trust him. Thing is, he doesn't have much influence in Canberra. He and John Howard disagree on a couple of issues, and the fact that his people will be on duty does NOT say anything for the other State governments or the Federal.

--Leo

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), April 07, 1999.

Interesting! This is the first I've seen about any gov't anywhere being on duty 01012000. Here in Canuckiana, RCMP, armed forces, utilities, banks, etc have had leaves cancelled, but I don't recall any gov't leaves cancelled. Maybe Mr. Kennett is just ahead of his time?

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), April 08, 1999.

Kennett is. He's a smart guy.

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), April 08, 1999.