It is, once again, time to marvel at the ACT government's ability and willingness to splash about large amounts of taxpayer funds on things that turn out to have little to no value, with barely a thought for the consequences.
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Just a few weeks ago, we watched Special Minister of State Chris Steel explain, almost casually, how unremarkable it was for the territory government to have squandered $76 million on an upgrade to the human resources and payroll systems, only to abandon it for a different scheme.
It was, we were told, a standard kind of issue, a live-and-learn kind of problem many other governments faced on a regular basis, this whole wasting of money on ill-thought-out schemes.
But in terms of sheer, Kafka-esque lunacy, it's small bickies when compared to the Canberra Institute of Technology awarding $8.78 million worth of contracts to "complexity and systems thinker" Patrick Hollingworth.
The contacts are the subject of a recent report from the Auditor-General, which has, at long last, highlighted some of the more startling aspects of the saga, including that one of Mr Hollingworth's offer was accepted by CIT despite being more than $2 million higher than the next highest offer.
While the final sum of $8.78 million is dwarfed by the more recent HR system stuff-up, it was ultimately destined for one individual and perhaps some sub-contractors.
And, it appeared to be destined for some truly baffling purposes.
The contracts came under fire - once the right people took the time to read them properly - because they were difficult to understand, had unclear outcomes and deliverables and the CIT board was unable to guarantee the contracts represented value for money.
The board had also failed to take appropriate actions when faced with what looked like a done deal when it came to awarding multiple contracts to Mr Hollingworth.
Now, is this also the kind of thing with which governments throughout the country grapple?
It's hard to not be reminded of a popular satirical show now airing on the ABC.
Do they also have to explain how a contract worth almost $5 million, that required Mr Hollingworth's company to "detect early/weak signals and build trends to improve products and services" and "establish and self-sustain practices that allow for iterative learning cycles", was ever signed off?
"There were missed opportunities for better procurement outcomes because the board was not assertive with its advice," the audit said.
In other words, it beggars belief that anyone thought at any time it was appropriate to award any contract to someone offering such services, let alone one worth $5 million.
This lack of assertiveness is on very much the same continuum as Mr Steel's insistence that "struggling to implement" payroll reform was normal, customary, and would be the subject of future "learnings" to take "forward into more IT projects in the future".
Combine this with Mr Hollingworth's title of "complexity and systems thinker", and it's hard to not be reminded of a popular satirical show now airing on the ABC, which uses this kind of language as a springboard when portraying daily life in a typical public service agency.
Many Canberrans have admitted to finding Utopia too hard to watch, or too close to the bone to raise much of a laugh.
But it can't be denied that these days, we don't need to look very far to find completely straight-faced, real-life examples of the kinds of interactions that really belong on the screen, and not before the Auditor-General.
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Responsibility for election comment is taken by John-Paul Moloney of 121 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra. Published by Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd.
