Dear Here to Help Everyone should wear a face mask. Why doesn’t government just make it the law? That is an interesting question. Let’s take a step back. The purpose of public policy (which includes laws) is to fix problems, or gaps, in our society. For example, without road...
Dear Here to Help My mother-in-law recently passed and we needed to cancel her phone account. I rang the telecommunications company’s call centre. An automated message told me that they had reduced staff numbers due to COVID and I should go to a store. I duly went...
Dear Here to Help, I recently drove interstate to visit a family member. I rang the tolling company to check I was still registered with them. I am hard of hearing and they speak very quickly in heavy accents and I couldn’t understand them. Finally, they...
At times, it may have felt a little like watching the fast and the furious as governments were responding with numerous law changes during the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, it is important to understand that government was reacting to the crisis and...
Dear Here to Help, I am finding governments’ covid-19 directions really hard to understand. Why can’t they just tell us what everyone can and can’t do? Great question! First things first. When designing public policy, government decides how it wants to deal with a certain situation. In the...
Dear Here to Help, I run a small business and we have been struggling since Sunday 15 March. Where can we access help? There are a number of things you can do to access help: 1. Talk to your bank. The banks are doing a great job helping people...
Dear Here to Help, A family member hired a car from a well-known company. There was a minor incident and the car hire company sent us a bill for the damage. The bill was very high. I showed photos of the damage and the bill to...
Governments cannot outsource their legal responsibilities to contractors. This story confirms this principle once more....
Dear Here to Help, I recently attended a funeral where they asked for donations in lieu of flowers. There was a box to put money in. I asked the funeral directors for a tax receipt and they told me that wasn’t possible. This seems wrong to me....
Last month, I shared my first four tips on how to get the best result when dealing with bureaucracies. Here's the remainder of my list. 5. Be proactive Have some solutions up your sleeve. Nobody needs to know about more problems. Just because someone works in a bureaucracy, that...