Pay bungles 1916-2009

Pay Branch confusion

In link we read of Pay Branch confusion, 77-8;
For his Chief Accountant, Bridges asked for the appointment of a senior officer, late Paymaster in Victoria. The foundation of a vast system of pay and accounting, and also great financial decisions calling for an expert in high finance, really depended 78 THE STORY OF ANZAC upon the officer chosen for this post. The official in question did not eventually sail with the force. Despite its devotion, the small staff which was taken was soon hopelessly overloaded with matters entirely outside the routine. This fact, together with the absence of special advice in complex matters of finance, was partly responsible for the confusion-of which the precise details were never publicly known-into which the financial system of the Australian Imperial Force subsequently fell.


While at link Anderson, Sir Robert Murray McCheyne (1865 - 1940)

On 8 December 1915 Anderson was commissioned as colonel and appointed deputy quartermaster general of the Australian Imperial Force in Egypt. He was instructed to remedy abuses in the contract and supply system, set up a canteen organization and infuse strict business management into the A.I.F. abroad.
He [Anderson] was impatient with bureaucracy and 'officialese', on one occasion telling the secretary of defence 'There is time to go round with an oil can … another to go around with a spanner'. He expressed to Sir John Monash his distrust of permanent soldiers, who would 'close up their ranks very solidly against the outsider, specially if that outsider possesses outstanding abilities'.

In link we read C. E. W. Bean claimed that Anderson could be aggressive if thwarted and that his 'reign at headquarters was not altogether a happy one, since though gifted with a keen sense of humour and quick intelligence, he lacked the faculty of retaining the complete confidence of his colleagues'.

Now we read Defence minister slams his department link Saturday, February 28, 2009 » 01:04pm
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has taken aim at his department, accusing them of incompetence at times.
His statements follow this week's row over the special forces pay bungle, which Mr Fitzgibbon told Fairfax newspapers he received 'no less than 10 different pieces of advice' from Defence chiefs on how to fix the problem.