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Australian Government financial disasters

29 Comments

I will add to this list and links as ideas come in. We may be the lucky country but surely stupidity will extract a price one day. All these issues would make articles in their own right.

[1] AUSSAT $700mill losses & debts rolled over into Pay TV 1990’s,
[2] $6Bn Collins Class Submarines 1990’s – duds we are still stuck with,
[3] Electricity privatisations started in 1990’s – looking at our ballooning power prices would we have been better off keeping the old State Electricity Commissions? Despite the feather-bedded unions.
[4] MRET scheme making 3 worse and harming our electricity grid into the bargain – ongoing multi $Bn’s as taxpayers fund wind & solar that can never power our 24/7 grid,
[5] Defence purchases eg MRH-90 helicopters $4.2Bn,
[6] Frequently delayed and poorly performing F-35 fighters $24Bn alone,
[7] Eastern States Desalination plants ~$20Bn,
[8] Rudd Labor watering down border laws $11.6 billion over five years,
[9] Decades of anti-damism – after not building the Franklin Dam in the 80’s,
[10] Antifracking hysteria affecting gas exploration policy in face of rising prices,
[11] Building the Education Revolution $16.2Bn – More money for Education = worse results,
[12] Adelaide Hospital third most expensive building in the world $2.1Bn,
[13] Inability to control rogue unions like CFMEU which affects 12 and all other construction est +$10Bn,
[14] NBN a future $100Bn mediocre performer?
[15] Buying 12 French submarines before even a prototype is built future $50Bn,
[16] The GST carve up which rewards the basket case States SA & Tas.
[17] Various States and GreenLabor anti-nuclear policies.
[18] Climate change policies – have a effect in 4, 7, 10, multi-$Bn’s.
[19] Just been told about this from Toytown 17 Jan 2017. Amazing construction stuffup with Sydney Metro NorthWest rail bridge.
“Investigation reveals ‘disappointing’ failures in Skytrain construction”

Please send in useful links and analysis. I must have been half asleep to leave the Rudd MkI Pink Batts and School Halls stimulus projects off the list. Also forgot to add GreenLabor’s Murray Darling Basin Plan to waste more dam water to the ocean.

29 thoughts on “Australian Government financial disasters”

  4. Yes Val – The Marcus Review has a good account of excesses in the Rudd MkI years – titled “What Did We Get for Our $400 Billion Loan?” – That is the amount our debt blew out by in those mad years.

  5. You can add the proposal to phase out regular unleaded petrol for what seems to me confused reasoning heavily tainted by greenyism.

    70% of Australians use regular, and this will be a huge slug to those who drive a lot. Hopefully the Senate will block this.

    FWIIW, Australia does allow high levels of sulphur in fuel, but I am not aware it’s a demonstrable problem. It certainly isn’t in Perth where we have exceptional clean, clear air.

    Apparently, European cars are designed for low sulphur, higher octane fuel. But people who buy European cars should be prepared to pay extra for higher octane fuel, not force it on the rest of us.

    Finally, it’s claimed, the change will reduce CO2 emissions. A claim, I think is very unlikely to be true.

  6. another couple:
    Building the education revolution:
    $20b ‘Education Revolution’ ($16.2 billion of which was committed to ‘Building the Education Revolution’).
    themarcusreview.com/2016/06/28/demolishing-the-education-revolution/#more-13482
    Human Rights Commission:
    Bit of cut and paste themarcusreview.com/2016/10/26/they-get-how-much-at-the-human-rights-commission/#more-19378

    In short, the Human Rights Commission currently takes in about $23 million of the public’s money each year and then cheerfully spends that plus another million.
    …
    $15.936 million will be spent on the Commission’s employees in the 2016-17 financial year which:
    • amounts to an insane 70.4% of the Commission’s annual budget;
    • taking into account the Commission’s average staffing level of 111 employees for 2016-17 (see above PBS link , page 130), amounts to an incredible average employee salary of $143,568. In other words, almost DOUBLE the national average salary; and
    • while total spending on employees will increase by $432,000 this year, the average number of employees is expected to decrease from 114 to 111. Or, in other words, this year’s average salary of $143,568 represents a $7,568 increase on the previous year’s average of $136,000 (i.e. a 5.6% pay rise).
    If there ever was a question that should be asked of Gillian Triggs and the Human Rights Commission, it’s this: why on Earth does your Commission pay its employees an average of almost double what regular Australians earn?

  7. then there’s the billions wasted on being green …
    catallaxyfiles.com/2016/12/16/billions-wasted-in-economy-sapping-energy-regulations/
    Political meddling from ministers bowing to green ideologues and enjoying the patronage of renewable businesses that can exist only on the back of political favours is forcing Australians to pay a high price. At the turn of the present century, reform had meant Australians enjoyed the cheapest electricity in the world. Even though other developed countries have become infected with the same green poison that is raising Australia’s prices, none have the same severity of sickness. American and French consumers now pay half our average of around 30 cents per kilowatt hour, even Japanese households, in a country with negligible domestic energy resources, have electricity cheaper than Australians.

  9. At end of Nov I posted on the petrol price ripoff – prob near a $Bn a year.
    It is no surprise that Govt would chop unleaded petrol leaving the OilCo’s with more leverage for their ripoff.
    Graphic indication of Australian petrol price ripoff
    www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=4810

    Should add fuels to the list. Also there has been publicity over the poor return the WA & Fed Govts get for our gas exports. I am not enough across that but it would be in the $Bn’s

  10. For mine I would like to add the Dyson Heydon Royal Commission.

    The ultimate cost of that ineffectual effort will burden Australia for decades to come & impoverish many generations.

    It will have a legacy of national penury.

    This is not the country so many went overseas to defend.

  11. You missed these Family Day Care rorts with Commonwealth money just flooding out to the States, administered by Councils who care nothing for the probity or integrity of each project. How migrants take advantage of our stupidity.

    Islamic fraudsters in Lakemba. CHILDCARE claims totalling more than $27 million of taxpayers’ money are suspected to have been sent to Islamic State terrorists. From August 2016
    www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/sydney-day-childcare-business-linked-to-widescale-fraud-of-childcare-funds-for-terrorist-purposes/news-story/fbb1fa26ff7b2a5e1ebab64900595951

    Alleged day care fraudster approved to work with children despite sword attack, terror investigation 16 August 2016
    www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-15/man-charged-with-childcare-fraud-also-arrested-over-sword-attack/7736054

    Canberra’s Long Life Family Day Care received $1.6m in childcare subsidies but couldn’t prove it looked after children 5 Oct 2016 Run by Sudanese
    www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberras-long-life-family-day-care-received-16m-in-childcare-subsidies-but-couldnt-prove-it-looked-after-children-20161005-grv57b.html

    Government crackdown on ‘child swapping’ loophole saving taxpayers almost $8 million a week 3 Jan 2016
    www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-03/childcare-crackdown-saving-government-almost-8-million-a-week/7064812
    this article claims a saving of $385 million PA after crackdown. So maybe at least a lazy $Billion has been lost overall and on the Coalition watch I think.

  12. Good Evening Warwick,
    Long-time fan, first-time contributor.
    I would incredibly appreciate if you could see fit to include my contribution.
    For many years now our state and federal politicians have been secretly “ratcheting-up” their “over-paid” status!
    Now a federal back-bencher is paid just $30K less than the British Prime Minister, Theresa May.
    In the coming two to three months I will be approaching Pauline, Cory & Bob Katter to try and get their support to have this urgently “righted”!
    I propose that all state and federal politicians take an immediate pay-cut of 20-25%, and that the state parliaments also cut the number of politicians by 20%!!
    To borrow from Matt Damon, from Good Will Hunting, “Let’s see how they like them apples!!”
    I hope that this will become one of the major talking points of both the 2017 W.A. state election, and also the “body politic”.
    I hope also you like this proposal, though I’m pretty sure you will!!??!!
    I wish you and all you erudite readers a very merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year.
    Thanks for your time.
    Lindsay Phillips.
    Logan

  13. I calculate eliminating regular unleaded will cost Australians at least a billion $ per year, for ever.

  14. notwithstanding all the bad news there are lovely and sensible people in the world! A Merry Christmas to Warwick and his fans!

  16. How about this mess which has been running for most of the year.
    Perth Children’s Hospital lead contamination: Doctors slam filter plan as inadequate 29th Dec 2016
    www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-29/doctors-lash-out-at-attempts-to-fix-hospital-lead-issue/8153174?WT.ac=localnews_perth
    The State Government said today it would install filters in the hospital’s water system in an effort to fix the long-running lead issue, which has contributed to lengthy delays in the $1.2 billion facility’s opening.
    No wonder the AMA is fuming.
    So Govt can not find the source of the lead contamination so they will add filters and just filter out the lead. Are we dreaming this?

  17. Lead pipes used to be common in water systems. The Children’s hospital is in quite an old area of Perth. Just north of UWA. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are lead pipes in the area, without any records.

    IMO, just posturing by the AMA. Do they expect the government to dig up the entire suburb?

  18. Surely if the lead was originating from offsite the scandal would have widened. In this article the Premier says “Lead discovered in the water at Perth’s new children’s hospital has been traced to an outside source, Premier Colin Barnett says.” –
    Yet Treasurer Nahan says “We are confident that the water quality issues, which are confined to the PCH site, will be resolved very soon,” Dr Nahan said. Sounds like a contradiction there.
    Barnett says Perth Children’s Hospital lead has been traced but mystery remains
    www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/barnett-says-perth-childrens-hospital-lead-has-been-traced-but-mystery-remains-20160914-grga2z.html

    If they would just publish all the data and reports then many minds would look at it all. It is not productive that secrecy is always the default setting.

  19. The problem appears to be piping water directly from the Mt Eliza Reservoir, which was part of the first scheme water for Perth, and is only a few hundred meters away from the hospital.

    The reservoir dates from the late 19th century and I assume has lead pipes incorporated. Its supply is minor in the overall Perth water system, but the lead contamination has been exposed by it being the exclusive source for the new hospital.

    A water engineer has made a big mistake.

  20. Please let us know if you see that in a media article Philip – sounds sensational to me. I am waiting for all the data to be released.
    WaterCorporation put out many media releases and searching for the word”hospital” I get only one for all 2016 and that is from 5 Sep and says – […the source of lead at the Perth Children’s Hospital is not coming from the Water Corporation’s supply.]
    www.watercorporation.com.au/about-us/media/media-releases/media-release/quality-of-drinking-water-supplies

  22. NBN – a total mess, done only to compensate for the sale of Telstra, ie. the ALP wanted it back

    And a smallish spank for some comments above on the unleaded petrol issue.

    1) why some people object to German-made cars (euphemism, European cars) I don’t know. I really can’t understand that prejudice but it surely exists. They just can’t help themselves get a childish little jab at it whenever the topic of fuel arises.

    2) RON98 fuel is widely available now because the newly-developed fuel-efficient turbo engines require it to run clean and smooth. Although this fuel was not widely available for quite some time, it is now. Yes, it costs about 8c/litre more than the E10 rubbish but it pays for itself in economy and engine life. And we don’t mind paying an extra $4-5 per refuel for this – in fact we happily do it all the time. We are NOT forcing other people to subsidise this fuel.

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