Barnaby Joyce is like a wild dog who should either be restrained or let loose to roam free. Being shadow finance minister is potentially too restrictive for him and the Coalition.
He should not have said Australia may default on its sovereign debt, but in The Australian today he clearly articulated a logical opposition to the government’s spending splurge:
Debt is less of a problem when it is backed by an asset that is readily exchangeable to restore the wealth of the public coffers. However, I do not know how exchangeable the ceiling insulation will be when we need to repay the debt.
I’m not quite certain what the international market is like for second-hand school halls if we need to send them back. I suppose we could have a crack at getting the $900 cheques off the public, but I don’t like our chances.
We have, approximately, a $90bn package of eclectic economic trinkets, noted as stimulus, that would look good hanging from any rear-vision mirror in a car doing hot laps on a Friday night in downtown Dubbo.
Did we get something substantial, clearly identifiable in the form of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, or inland rail or massive water infrastructure to alleviate the problems of future droughts? Did we invest in a method to encourage people in a growing population to settle away from the crowded capitals of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane? No, we didn’t.
What we did get were big contracts to big firms with big price tags, to make big statements that didn’t deliver big outcomes.
What we got was appalling management of programs and costs as seen in the ceiling insulation fiasco, the biggest flop since the Leyland P76.
Economists may argue over the merits of the government pumping money into thousands of small projects instead of several big ones.
Australia avoided recession, but I suspect too much was spent too erratically for too little long-term gain.
They were great lines by Joyce about Dubbo and the Leyland.
