A good woman

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 17 December 2009 | 1 Comments

I am extremely pleased to learn that a good woman has been appointed as the CEO of the public service organisation that most Australians have personal contact with: Centrelink, which will soon be merged with Medicare.

But at the risk of being a bit churlish about the process followed for this appointment I would also like to point out that the last two Centrelink CEOs were men, and they were appointed via a much more common process - that is, they were just appointed to the jobs because someone in power thought they would be the best person - just like that. No advertising, no interviewing, no process, just 'have a job!'.

There have been three appointments for Centrelink's CEO in nearly as many years, and only once was the job advertised.

Carolyn Hogg, who won the job this time around, has been acting in the role. On and off, for some time.

In fact, she was acting in the CEO role on the previous two occasions when the job was just handed to a bloke.

This time the job was advertised. And a woman got it. OK? Get my point?

Thanks guys.