Politics, Weber once said, is the slow boring of hard boards.
The debate leading up to this week’s budget certainly confirmed that. It was not dominated by issues calculated to set the pulse racing: alternative models of aged pension indexation, and cost-benefit analyses of two-tiered business tax systems.
It was, as the federal government hoped, a mostly “dull and routine” – some might say, frustratingly timid – budget. However, certain pockets of very interesting spending still managed to sneak through.
Take, for example, the quarter of a million dollars pledged by the federal government for Bathurst to erect a new flagpole, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first time white people decided to build a settlement in Australia without water views – a decision they must surely be regretting.
One wonders what these pioneers would think of their memorial. As local newspaper, the Western Advocate, had it: “There were more than a few raised eyebrows when it was announced that Bathurst’s lasting bicentenary memorial would be a flagpole on a toilet block.” After Tuesday night’s Budget, there will surely be a few more raised eyebrows around the country at the fact that it could cost quite so much.
Or how about the nearly $8 million being spent on maintenance and renovations for the Governor-General’s two houses in Canberra and Sydney? Determined to learn from their mistakes last year, and deliver a budget in line with Australians’ expectations of fairness, the federal government has taken an interesting approach. What could possibly cost $8 million? Are the wine cellars not full enough? Do the doilies need to be taken to the dry cleaners?
Or, finally, how about the $2.4 million of additional funding that the federal government committed to the Australian honours and awards system? As the budget papers explain, the money will go towards “support[ing] the increasing number of Australians recognised each year for their outstanding achievements.” $2.4 million is a bit stiff, though. How many more knights and dames do you reckon that’ll get us?
Budget 2015: slow to produce, hard to read, but certainly not all boring.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Curious Budget items
Curious Budget items
Politics, Weber once said, is the slow boring of hard boards.
The debate leading up to this week’s budget certainly confirmed that. It was not dominated by issues calculated to set the pulse racing: alternative models of aged pension indexation, and cost-benefit analyses of two-tiered business tax systems.
It was, as the federal government hoped, a mostly “dull and routine” – some might say, frustratingly timid – budget. However, certain pockets of very interesting spending still managed to sneak through.
Take, for example, the quarter of a million dollars pledged by the federal government for Bathurst to erect a new flagpole, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first time white people decided to build a settlement in Australia without water views – a decision they must surely be regretting.
One wonders what these pioneers would think of their memorial. As local newspaper, the Western Advocate, had it: “There were more than a few raised eyebrows when it was announced that Bathurst’s lasting bicentenary memorial would be a flagpole on a toilet block.” After Tuesday night’s Budget, there will surely be a few more raised eyebrows around the country at the fact that it could cost quite so much.
Or how about the nearly $8 million being spent on maintenance and renovations for the Governor-General’s two houses in Canberra and Sydney? Determined to learn from their mistakes last year, and deliver a budget in line with Australians’ expectations of fairness, the federal government has taken an interesting approach. What could possibly cost $8 million? Are the wine cellars not full enough? Do the doilies need to be taken to the dry cleaners?
Or, finally, how about the $2.4 million of additional funding that the federal government committed to the Australian honours and awards system? As the budget papers explain, the money will go towards “support[ing] the increasing number of Australians recognised each year for their outstanding achievements.” $2.4 million is a bit stiff, though. How many more knights and dames do you reckon that’ll get us?
Budget 2015: slow to produce, hard to read, but certainly not all boring.
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