Sunday, January 30, 2011

The $1 Justification

Many thanks to our Prime Minister for making out that the average Australian is a heartless tightwad.

She reasoned that her new flood levy was fine and should go through parliament because it would only cost the individual an estimated $1 per week.

A few thoughts:
  • If it’s bad policy it doesn’t matter how much or little it will cost the tax payer, it’s just plain bad policy
  • This government has found it has a handy knack of underestimating costs of projects so the reasoning of $1 a week should be taken with some scepticism.
  • The general public has been very generous and digging deep to help our friends north of the border, much more generous than this government ever will be
  • If it's so easy for the general public to give a dollar then surely it's at least just as easy for the govt to save the same amount or more.
  • Also a big reason for an injection of funds in Queensland can be attributed to the lack of insurance on infrastructure. Every other state government has these provisions in place, but not Queensland.

Remove the cotton wool and have a look at the issues at hand.

1 comment:

Meaghan said...

For someone who's as Occa as Julia, she's decidedly unAustralian in her running of the country. As you pointed out, Tim, the public have already thrust their hands deeply into their own pockets to keep Queensland on top of things. To then put a levy on, is as if we weren't bothered by the floods at all and gave nothing, and like naughty little children we're forced to hand something over. Aussies don't like being made to feel stupid.

You know, considering there are those who would put the floods down to 'climate change', Julia's advisors especially, it's a wonder they don't use the carbon tax to pay for Queensland's rebuild.