“Fortunately for Australia, there is a mood for change in the community – a community tired of the old politics of vote buying and pork-barrelling,”
Treasurer Wayne Swan, March 2008
That's a relief. Didn't last long though. Today - Friday the 13 - the Senate passed the biggest pork barrelling package in Australian history. Nation building 2009 style is now comprised of insulating private homes, giving people some random cash (where did $950 come from?) and building netball courts in schools (long neglected by state Labor governments).
Turnbull put it best: 'You know what someone said to me just a little while ago, very wise point. He said, imagine if 60 years ago Ben Chifley and Bob Menzies had sent everyone a cheque for 50 pounds instead of building the Snowy Mountain scheme'.
No need to imagine. The reality is unfolding before us.
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you make a great point
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