Michael, We Really Have to Talk ...

Human Resources worker Michael O'Neill describes his long march through the institutions of the Australian public service."He was explaining why he had just taken a very well-paidpublic service position in the upper echelon of the EducationDepartment. "Comrades," he said, "I have been on the long march through theinstitutions." There was enough auld lang syne in his phrase toresonate with our shared ratbag past, enough residue of our onetime reverence for Mao, enough nostalgia for...
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Human Resources worker Michael O'Neill describes his long march through the institutions of the Australian public service."He was explaining why he had just taken a very well-paidpublic service position in the upper echelon of the EducationDepartment. "Comrades," he said, "I have been on the long march through theinstitutions." There was enough auld lang syne in his phrase toresonate with our shared ratbag past, enough residue of our onetime reverence for Mao, enough nostalgia for 1968 to dissolve thetension and turn the talk to other things.