I love the "wild dog" fence which extends along some of the NSW/QLD and NSW/SA borders. Apparently it was originally constructed to keep the rabbits out. Didn't work.
The story is that rather than admit defeat and acknowledge that money had been wasted on a useless project, they brought out some bureaucrat consultants from Sydney who noted that there were no dingos in the area and suggested the fence be renamed the wild dog fence. The lack of dingos in the area verified the success of the project (no need to mention the general lack of dingos in the area prior to construction of the fence). The fence needed to be administered, as do all bureaucratic structures, and so the government established the NSW Wild Dog Destruction Board to employ staff to patrol and repair the fence.
It's a lesson I could have done with earlier in life. Never let anything be declared a failure; just assign it a new purpose (even if that purpose was unnecessary) so that the project is a success. And to emphasise the success, establish a bureaucracy to administer the "success".
Ivanhoe Harry
Footnotes:
"The South Australian section of the border fence is erected on or near the western border of New South Wales and extends from the North West border of New South Wales (Cameron Corner) for approximately 219kms south along the NSW/SA border. .... The Queensland section of the border fence is erected approximately 15 metres north of the border of the New South Wales and extends from the western border of NSW (Cameron Corner) for 363kms east to a point 15kms east of Hungerford." from the Wild Dog Destruction Board's Annual Report 2008
Although it purported to be a NSW statutory authority, the former Wild Dog Destruction Board was not included in the "complete list" of State Government Agencies formerly published on the New South Wales Government website. The Border Fence Maintenance Board continues not to be included in the current NSW Government Directory which claims to provide "the contact details for all government departments, agencies, offices and entities within New South Wales". Another lesson in successful bureaucracy - never let the punters know where to find you!
In a further attempt to disguise failure, the New South Wales act of parliament which established the bureaucracy was initially known as the Wild Dog Destruction Act 1921 but in approximately 2015 was retrospectively renamed the Border Fence Maintenance Act 1921 removing any suggestion that fence is related to the purported danger of being invaded by wild dogs from interstate. Similarly the board was renamed the Border Fence Maintenance Board. In a further twist, the legislated provison which amended the name of the Act, namely Schedule 8.44[1] of the Biosecurity Act 2015, commenced (i.e. came into effect) in July 2017 but appears itself to have since been repealed in an obscure trail that has not been unravelled by this author.
Also see ......
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