Dear Editor,
We are told that Chris hates Delia, and Delia hates Matthew. Delia most likely hates Chris, too. And Matthew probably hates Delia as well, and possibly dislikes, or maybe even hates Paul.
Delia does not like any of the “Anti-Discrimination Commissioner” applicants, so she chooses her own. And the successful person is not her mother, as some suspected.
It seems to me that there has always been plenty of healthy “discrimination” taking place within the NT Labor Party. But now some of the elected Labor members are airing their individual “discriminations” in public.
Should not the new “Anti-Discrimination Commissioner” immediately intervene to stop all this “discrimination”?
Or should we really just allow people to “discriminate” about other people, cars, and houses, dogs….. Or whatever, as they always have and always will?
Therefore, surely we should forget about hiring another “Anti-Discrimination Commissioner” and save the ever-suffering taxpayer plenty of money?
After all, I doubt that even 1% of fair-dinkum, productive NT people have ever availed themselves of this totally unnecessary and costly (to taxpayers) “service”.
Yours truly,
Dave Wane
17th November, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Resource Tax
Dear Editor,
Re: Resource tax.
The NT News editorial of 5th November, 2009 seems to side with career bureaucrat, and now Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, over the need for a resource tax.
I seriously question the need for additional taxes of any kind, and certainly not a resource tax on the mining sector, which of course provides so much of Australia’s income.
Even if this resource tax went ahead, what would be the benefits? And more importantly, how would this new taxation revenue be spent?
In my view, state and territory governments would undoubtedly waste the money by building bigger bureaucracies and installing more incompetent, time-serving public-service “managers”. The resource tax funds would be squandered.
For example, the GST, introduced by the Howard Government in July 2000 as a means of providing a revenue stream to the states, and hopefully wiping out some obnoxious state taxes like stamp duty and payroll tax, soon became a milch cow to pay for the ever-expanding numbers of taxpayer-funded employees in every state and territory.
Here in the Northern Territory, the Martin and Henderson governments have increased the number of taxpayer-funded employees by well over 4,000 since Labor was elected in 2001. The annual cost of this scandalous mismanagement would likely be in the order of $500 Million or up to $5 Billion during the entire period of the Martin/Henderson Labor Government.
Providing governments with endless revenue streams is akin to buying an alcoholic another drink, or providing a drug addict with more drugs. The “disease” is only exacerbated.
However, the editorial correctly points out: “A resource tax would undoubtedly scare off some miners”.
But can Australia really afford to scare off anyone, let alone the miners who already contribute in so many ways to this country’s high standard of living.
Less taxation, smaller-well-managed government is the way forward for a prosperous Australia, where everyone can benefit from our wealth, not just those, like Ken Henry, who feed at the taxpayer-funded-trough.
Yours truly,
Dave Wane
6th November, 2009
Re: Resource tax.
The NT News editorial of 5th November, 2009 seems to side with career bureaucrat, and now Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, over the need for a resource tax.
I seriously question the need for additional taxes of any kind, and certainly not a resource tax on the mining sector, which of course provides so much of Australia’s income.
Even if this resource tax went ahead, what would be the benefits? And more importantly, how would this new taxation revenue be spent?
In my view, state and territory governments would undoubtedly waste the money by building bigger bureaucracies and installing more incompetent, time-serving public-service “managers”. The resource tax funds would be squandered.
For example, the GST, introduced by the Howard Government in July 2000 as a means of providing a revenue stream to the states, and hopefully wiping out some obnoxious state taxes like stamp duty and payroll tax, soon became a milch cow to pay for the ever-expanding numbers of taxpayer-funded employees in every state and territory.
Here in the Northern Territory, the Martin and Henderson governments have increased the number of taxpayer-funded employees by well over 4,000 since Labor was elected in 2001. The annual cost of this scandalous mismanagement would likely be in the order of $500 Million or up to $5 Billion during the entire period of the Martin/Henderson Labor Government.
Providing governments with endless revenue streams is akin to buying an alcoholic another drink, or providing a drug addict with more drugs. The “disease” is only exacerbated.
However, the editorial correctly points out: “A resource tax would undoubtedly scare off some miners”.
But can Australia really afford to scare off anyone, let alone the miners who already contribute in so many ways to this country’s high standard of living.
Less taxation, smaller-well-managed government is the way forward for a prosperous Australia, where everyone can benefit from our wealth, not just those, like Ken Henry, who feed at the taxpayer-funded-trough.
Yours truly,
Dave Wane
6th November, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Government - run businesses
Dear Editor,
The editorial (19th August, 2009) correctly rejects Gerry Wood’s crazy idea of taxpayer’s funding an abattoir. It goes on to say: “No business operated by any government anywhere at any time has worked well.” Of course this is true.
One therefore must ask the obvious question; why has the NT News never supported the privatization of the NT Government’s poorly performing businesses?
The obvious “business” to sell off would be PowerWater, which continues to provide very ordinary service whilst at the same time gobbling up millions of taxpayer’s dollars.
But obviously TIO, the Government Printing Office and the Darwin Bus Service, just to name a few, should all be sold off. There is no reason whatsoever to throw taxpayer’s money at these businesses.
And finally, if we really need a new jail, then call worldwide tenders from proven jail operators to design, construct and operate a new correctional facility somewhere in the greater Darwin area. There really is no valid reason for the taxpayer to run jails if they can be run more cheaply and efficiently by private enterprise.
With Gerry Wood’s massively expensive and mostly unnecessary “shopping list” together with the perilous state of the Henderson Government’s finances, surely now is the time to bite the privatization bullet?
Dave Wane
19th August, 2009
The editorial (19th August, 2009) correctly rejects Gerry Wood’s crazy idea of taxpayer’s funding an abattoir. It goes on to say: “No business operated by any government anywhere at any time has worked well.” Of course this is true.
One therefore must ask the obvious question; why has the NT News never supported the privatization of the NT Government’s poorly performing businesses?
The obvious “business” to sell off would be PowerWater, which continues to provide very ordinary service whilst at the same time gobbling up millions of taxpayer’s dollars.
But obviously TIO, the Government Printing Office and the Darwin Bus Service, just to name a few, should all be sold off. There is no reason whatsoever to throw taxpayer’s money at these businesses.
And finally, if we really need a new jail, then call worldwide tenders from proven jail operators to design, construct and operate a new correctional facility somewhere in the greater Darwin area. There really is no valid reason for the taxpayer to run jails if they can be run more cheaply and efficiently by private enterprise.
With Gerry Wood’s massively expensive and mostly unnecessary “shopping list” together with the perilous state of the Henderson Government’s finances, surely now is the time to bite the privatization bullet?
Dave Wane
19th August, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The recent turmoil in the ranks of the Henderson government says more about the majority of the people who make up this horribly inefficient, extremely wasteful, but very “spun” administration, than any individual Labor member.
Most observers of NT politics would be well aware that almost all Labor members of parliament previously fed at the taxpayer-funded trough prior to embarking on a political career. In my view this total absence of any real marketplace experience is at the heart is the heart of the failure of this NT Labor government.
Whilst Alison Anderson is of course very much a loose cannon, and has seriously damaged what remains of the Henderson government’s credibility, she does make at least one very valid criticism of the waste and mismanagement of funds allocated to Aboriginal housing.
Whatever the real ratio of administration costs to actual housing costs actually is under the Henderson government’s administration of the “Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program” (SIHIP), there is no doubt that there has been plenty of squandering of taxpayer’s funds on unnecessary bureaucratic process and more than likely the usual government bungling.
Anyone who has ever worked in Aboriginal “communities” would be well aware that housing designed by public servants and “consultants” are rarely if ever appropriate for the needs of aborigines. Large expensive suburban-style-bungalows are the last thing aborigines require.
Territorians who have been to Beswick would be aware of the older (still-standing) housing – constructed of concrete blocks. These houses consist of a front verandah, an outside covered laundry, internal ablution facilities, a kitchen and bedrooms. There are no glass windows, instead concrete breeze-blocks. However, the design of housing is relatively easy to construct, has very low maintenance and lasts for many years. If Alison Anderson is fair-dinkum about providing effective and appropriate housing for aborigines, then I suggest she inspect these dwellings. In my opinion these hoses could be built for around $500,000 – half the cost of a suburban bungalow style that is currently being built.
Forget the bureaucrats and consultants. The federal and territory governments should immediately call for expressions of interest (and quotations) from experienced remote area NT builders to design and construct houses built from concrete panels or reinforced concrete blockwork. Provided that a few basic criteria are met, the cheapest proposal for each community should be accepted and construction started immediately, before the wet. Simple really!
In the history of the Northern Territory parliament since self-government, the Labor Party has not been served well by members with aboriginal blood. Of course, again like most of the fully-white Labor members of the assembly, to my knowledge, there has never been a part-aboriginal member of the NT parliamentary Labor Party who has not previously been on the taxpayer-funded payroll. As a result, a money-grows-on-trees attitude is rife throughout the Labor government of Paul Henderson - hence the massive debt burden and astronomical wages bill for the extra 4,000 public servants that this government has forced Territorians to wear.
Whatever of the outcome of the current parliamentary crisis, hopefully a strong, efficient government will emerge that gets on with things with the minimum of fuss and least cost to the taxpayer.
Territorians do not want another all “spin and bloat” government like that of Henderson to sneak back into power – with renegade aboriginal members still intact. Territorians deserve better. Territorians deserve a stable committed government.
As the Rudd Labor government continues to wreak havoc upon the Australian economy with jobs-destroying schemes like CPRS “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” and other unnecessary interventionist, anti - free-market measures, Territorians more than ever require a well-managed team of dedicated members to form the next government and provide sound economic leadership.
Dave Wane
Woodleigh Gardens
14th August, 2009
Most observers of NT politics would be well aware that almost all Labor members of parliament previously fed at the taxpayer-funded trough prior to embarking on a political career. In my view this total absence of any real marketplace experience is at the heart is the heart of the failure of this NT Labor government.
Whilst Alison Anderson is of course very much a loose cannon, and has seriously damaged what remains of the Henderson government’s credibility, she does make at least one very valid criticism of the waste and mismanagement of funds allocated to Aboriginal housing.
Whatever the real ratio of administration costs to actual housing costs actually is under the Henderson government’s administration of the “Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program” (SIHIP), there is no doubt that there has been plenty of squandering of taxpayer’s funds on unnecessary bureaucratic process and more than likely the usual government bungling.
Anyone who has ever worked in Aboriginal “communities” would be well aware that housing designed by public servants and “consultants” are rarely if ever appropriate for the needs of aborigines. Large expensive suburban-style-bungalows are the last thing aborigines require.
Territorians who have been to Beswick would be aware of the older (still-standing) housing – constructed of concrete blocks. These houses consist of a front verandah, an outside covered laundry, internal ablution facilities, a kitchen and bedrooms. There are no glass windows, instead concrete breeze-blocks. However, the design of housing is relatively easy to construct, has very low maintenance and lasts for many years. If Alison Anderson is fair-dinkum about providing effective and appropriate housing for aborigines, then I suggest she inspect these dwellings. In my opinion these hoses could be built for around $500,000 – half the cost of a suburban bungalow style that is currently being built.
Forget the bureaucrats and consultants. The federal and territory governments should immediately call for expressions of interest (and quotations) from experienced remote area NT builders to design and construct houses built from concrete panels or reinforced concrete blockwork. Provided that a few basic criteria are met, the cheapest proposal for each community should be accepted and construction started immediately, before the wet. Simple really!
In the history of the Northern Territory parliament since self-government, the Labor Party has not been served well by members with aboriginal blood. Of course, again like most of the fully-white Labor members of the assembly, to my knowledge, there has never been a part-aboriginal member of the NT parliamentary Labor Party who has not previously been on the taxpayer-funded payroll. As a result, a money-grows-on-trees attitude is rife throughout the Labor government of Paul Henderson - hence the massive debt burden and astronomical wages bill for the extra 4,000 public servants that this government has forced Territorians to wear.
Whatever of the outcome of the current parliamentary crisis, hopefully a strong, efficient government will emerge that gets on with things with the minimum of fuss and least cost to the taxpayer.
Territorians do not want another all “spin and bloat” government like that of Henderson to sneak back into power – with renegade aboriginal members still intact. Territorians deserve better. Territorians deserve a stable committed government.
As the Rudd Labor government continues to wreak havoc upon the Australian economy with jobs-destroying schemes like CPRS “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” and other unnecessary interventionist, anti - free-market measures, Territorians more than ever require a well-managed team of dedicated members to form the next government and provide sound economic leadership.
Dave Wane
Woodleigh Gardens
14th August, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
PowerWater tariff increase.
Dear Editor,
A correspondent to these pages (NT News Letters to the Editor 15th July, 2009) asks the very valid and obvious question about where the money from Power & Water’s 28% rate increases since 2005 has gone. As he says, it clearly has not been spent on maintenance.
This correspondent’s concerns regarding why we have a third world electricity supply system yet pay ever-increasing tariffs is of course justified, and easy to explain.
Power & Water, like just about every NT Government department or instrumentality is burdened with a massively top heavy, mostly unnecessary, usually ineffective but very expensive bureaucracy. In simple terms there are way too many highly-paid “chiefs” gobbling up millions of dollars of revenue that could be better spent at the “coal face”. Furthermore all these executives and so-called managers appear to have little or no management ability. Instead of focusing on efficiency and productivity, they are keener on empire building.
Whether it’s Health, Education, or indeed any area of the NT Government, the same bloat, waste and inefficiency is commonplace throughout all sections of this government. For example, the recent Education review revealed systematic failures within that department, citing amongst others - a culture of “self-interested fiefdoms” operating within that huge bureaucracy.
The Martin/Henderson governments have increased the size of public service by up to 4,000 people since they came to power. Many of this extraordinarily high number are of course highly paid “executives”. But what have these well remunerated mandarins achieved for Territorians? There would be very few Territorians who believe that so-called service-delivery in any area has improved since 2001.Most Territorians would say that Electricity supply, Health and Education, to name just three, have gone backwards during the Martin/Henderson years. And of course, crime has increased, even with an increase in police numbers.
Territorians who have followed the decline of New South Wales under the Carr/Iemma/Rees government to a near bankrupt position, and similarly the parlous financial mess that Queensland finds itself in under the Beattie/Bligh administration should be very concerned that all the same mistakes are being made right here by the Henderson government.
These “mistakes” are of course directly attributed to the poor judgment and lack of “real world” experience of Henderson, the members of his government, and their advisors – almost all of which previously fed at the taxpayer-funded trough – and obviously still do.
What are these mistakes?
*A systemic environment of poor management; leading to massive over-manning, waste, inefficiency and low productivity across the entire NT public service.
*A stubborn philosophical unwillingness to dispose of costly and potentially financially crippling state-owned businesses such as TIO and PowerWater. Even Anna Bligh (from the ALP left) had to eventually bite the privatization bullet, albeit way too late.
*Excessive regulation of businesses (to appease the unions) and increasing control over the lifestyle of Territorians (to appease southern Labor-do-gooders). In other words, like all the southern Labor administrations – the creation of a straight-jacketed nanny-state.
*Unwarranted intervention in the marketplace, such as the now abandoned scheme to create “low-cost” housing in Palmerston.
*And generally, a “drunken-sailor” approach to the spending of taxpayer’s funds – throwing money at anything that comes along – as if money grows on trees.
Maybe the arrival of Inpex and other oil and gas companies may buy Henderson and Co more time.
However, Territorians should remember that Queensland was once resource-rich and wealthy. Whilst Queensland is still resource-rich, it is now in serious financial difficulty –thanks to the same kind of mismanagement that is occurring here under the Henderson government.
Territorians should be very concerned at the direction our once great and freedom-loving Territory is heading!
Yours truly,
Dave Wane
Woodleigh Gardens
18th July, 2009
A correspondent to these pages (NT News Letters to the Editor 15th July, 2009) asks the very valid and obvious question about where the money from Power & Water’s 28% rate increases since 2005 has gone. As he says, it clearly has not been spent on maintenance.
This correspondent’s concerns regarding why we have a third world electricity supply system yet pay ever-increasing tariffs is of course justified, and easy to explain.
Power & Water, like just about every NT Government department or instrumentality is burdened with a massively top heavy, mostly unnecessary, usually ineffective but very expensive bureaucracy. In simple terms there are way too many highly-paid “chiefs” gobbling up millions of dollars of revenue that could be better spent at the “coal face”. Furthermore all these executives and so-called managers appear to have little or no management ability. Instead of focusing on efficiency and productivity, they are keener on empire building.
Whether it’s Health, Education, or indeed any area of the NT Government, the same bloat, waste and inefficiency is commonplace throughout all sections of this government. For example, the recent Education review revealed systematic failures within that department, citing amongst others - a culture of “self-interested fiefdoms” operating within that huge bureaucracy.
The Martin/Henderson governments have increased the size of public service by up to 4,000 people since they came to power. Many of this extraordinarily high number are of course highly paid “executives”. But what have these well remunerated mandarins achieved for Territorians? There would be very few Territorians who believe that so-called service-delivery in any area has improved since 2001.Most Territorians would say that Electricity supply, Health and Education, to name just three, have gone backwards during the Martin/Henderson years. And of course, crime has increased, even with an increase in police numbers.
Territorians who have followed the decline of New South Wales under the Carr/Iemma/Rees government to a near bankrupt position, and similarly the parlous financial mess that Queensland finds itself in under the Beattie/Bligh administration should be very concerned that all the same mistakes are being made right here by the Henderson government.
These “mistakes” are of course directly attributed to the poor judgment and lack of “real world” experience of Henderson, the members of his government, and their advisors – almost all of which previously fed at the taxpayer-funded trough – and obviously still do.
What are these mistakes?
*A systemic environment of poor management; leading to massive over-manning, waste, inefficiency and low productivity across the entire NT public service.
*A stubborn philosophical unwillingness to dispose of costly and potentially financially crippling state-owned businesses such as TIO and PowerWater. Even Anna Bligh (from the ALP left) had to eventually bite the privatization bullet, albeit way too late.
*Excessive regulation of businesses (to appease the unions) and increasing control over the lifestyle of Territorians (to appease southern Labor-do-gooders). In other words, like all the southern Labor administrations – the creation of a straight-jacketed nanny-state.
*Unwarranted intervention in the marketplace, such as the now abandoned scheme to create “low-cost” housing in Palmerston.
*And generally, a “drunken-sailor” approach to the spending of taxpayer’s funds – throwing money at anything that comes along – as if money grows on trees.
Maybe the arrival of Inpex and other oil and gas companies may buy Henderson and Co more time.
However, Territorians should remember that Queensland was once resource-rich and wealthy. Whilst Queensland is still resource-rich, it is now in serious financial difficulty –thanks to the same kind of mismanagement that is occurring here under the Henderson government.
Territorians should be very concerned at the direction our once great and freedom-loving Territory is heading!
Yours truly,
Dave Wane
Woodleigh Gardens
18th July, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Not an unpublished NT News Letter - but relevant to the NT
This was a response to a column by Janet Albrechtsen in "The Australian". http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/janetalbrechtsen/index.php/theaustralian/comments/beware_the_faceless_men_of_nsw/
One can only guess where all these wrong decisions (not to privatise electricity or Cessnock jail, being the more recent ones)will eventually place the already tenuous finances of Australia’s largest state.
Do the union bosses who control this pathetic government have no conscience whatsoever - that they can allow their state to become bankrupt?
There is no doubt that the public sector unions have, through the weak Carr/Iemma and now Rees Governments held the productive people of NSW to ransom. Whilst the union officials and hundreds of thousands of (mostly unnecessary) NSW Government employees are living on clover, ordinary people in NSW are doing it hard as the recession bites and REAL world jobs become scarce.
Off the subject slightly, but here in the NT the Martin and Henderson Labor Governments have all but created a clone of the failed state of NSW.
All the same ingredients have been poured into the “stew”; 3,000 extra public servants have been hired since Labor came to power: rules, regulations and taxes are on the increase, and a host of grandiose (but mostly unnecessary) public expenditure projects have been undertaken. Whilst, like NSW the levels of productivity in Police, Education, Health and Power-Generation have become abysmal.
Yes the southern Labor disease that has crippled NSW has already made its mark here in the NT. And now with the recession and without Costello to keep the money supply coming I do not see us avoiding becoming a full-blown casualty of the NSW Labor sickness - a virtual tropical clone of that failed southern state.
One can only guess where all these wrong decisions (not to privatise electricity or Cessnock jail, being the more recent ones)will eventually place the already tenuous finances of Australia’s largest state.
Do the union bosses who control this pathetic government have no conscience whatsoever - that they can allow their state to become bankrupt?
There is no doubt that the public sector unions have, through the weak Carr/Iemma and now Rees Governments held the productive people of NSW to ransom. Whilst the union officials and hundreds of thousands of (mostly unnecessary) NSW Government employees are living on clover, ordinary people in NSW are doing it hard as the recession bites and REAL world jobs become scarce.
Off the subject slightly, but here in the NT the Martin and Henderson Labor Governments have all but created a clone of the failed state of NSW.
All the same ingredients have been poured into the “stew”; 3,000 extra public servants have been hired since Labor came to power: rules, regulations and taxes are on the increase, and a host of grandiose (but mostly unnecessary) public expenditure projects have been undertaken. Whilst, like NSW the levels of productivity in Police, Education, Health and Power-Generation have become abysmal.
Yes the southern Labor disease that has crippled NSW has already made its mark here in the NT. And now with the recession and without Costello to keep the money supply coming I do not see us avoiding becoming a full-blown casualty of the NSW Labor sickness - a virtual tropical clone of that failed southern state.
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