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