Behind the files, beneath the air conditioner and beside the water cooler lurk the real news stories of the Public Service and PS News editor Frank Cassidy has had his nose in the air, back to the wall, shoulder to the wheel and ear to the ground to dig them out.
   So, fresh from his physiotherapist here’s what he’s found out:

PS-sssst...

We’re back!
A warm summer welcome to 2013 and to PS News for another year to all our cherished and hopefully relaxed, refreshed and reinvigorated returning readers.
   Geared up for another year of covering the news stories making life in the Public Service so eventful these days, PS News has returned with a new burst of energy for ferreting out the facts and sharing the information we hope will keep you informed of the news worth making the news in the PS.
   As usual, the summer holidays were relatively uneventful for most of the PS - except for our many heroic emergency services managers and their volunteers keeping the rest of us safe - but we think we’ve managed to scrape together enough news to set the information and entertainment wheels rolling again and that you can join us for the ride ahead.
   Now read on.......

Presidential degree
There are acronyms and there are acronyms but some abbreviations are possibly better off un-acronymised.
   While it’s excellent news from the Western Australian Drug and Alcohol Office that teenage use of the drug ‘ecstasy’ in their State is on the decline, the dictatorial name of the survey that discovered the fact doesn’t leave much to be ecstatic about.
   According to the WA Minister for Mental Health, the finding came from the 2011Australian School Student Alcohol and Drug survey which has the unfortunate fortune of sharing it abbreviated name – ASSAD – with that of the unpopular and currently embattled leader of Syria, President Assad!

Sign hang-up
And while we’re exposing the inexplicable, many thanks to Glenn S of Queensland for posing a road safety conundrum that has him driving round in circles.
   “How is it,” Glenn asks, “that it is illegal to use your phone while driving yet there is a great big flashing sign above the Bruce Highway telling you to ‘Twitter 131xxx for traffic updates’?”
   Good question.
   It could be a not-so-triffic traffic trap, Glenn, or a novel way of thinning out the ranks of the ‘twittering’ classes!
   A delightful book prize on its way to you for the contribution however.

Green by nature
And as blackening bushfires blaze their way around the country during the hot summer there is at least one State in which the hope of recovery burns bright in the leadership of its forest management personnel.
   PS News has just found out that the Chief Executive of Victoria’s VicForests is a highly talented gentleman by the name of Robert Green.
   How very appropriate!

Booked
And finally, like most of us over the holidays a colleague spend much of his time off catching up on his reading and reported that the surprise winner on his list was a science book on anti-gravity.
   “I couldn’t put it down,” he reported.
   What else could he have expected?

Till next week...


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