Archive (14/4/2009): I'd go for $43b Mr. Rudd.

I love the internet. I love the fact I can be in three countries at once from the same seat. I love the fact I can have a thousand different aliases from a thousand different nationalities. I love the fact I can find movies, programs and music anywhere at any time. I love the fact I can stay in touch with primary school friends 24/7. I love the accessibility, I love the variety, I love the unsourced biased opinions, I love YouTube, I love Facebook, and I love everything about it. I can honestly say that $43 Billion dollars later, I would still love it just the same. It’s like making an Olympic champion fitter – they’ll still win the race regardless of how many steroids they’re packed with.

$43B is a hell of a lot of money. It’s even more than the stimulus package designed to help out the citizens, education, health and public service. It’s more money than most people can contemplate, and far more than anyone will ever see in their entire lives. I hate it. I hate the idea of it. I hate the fact that 111 West Aussie towns won’t benefit from it, and the rest won’t see its ultimate effects for almost a decade. I hate how we have no say in the matter. I hate how the West Australian Government has taken a 3% budget cut because the country has no money. Public Servants get screwed, the elderly get screwed. In the end, it is the future than will inherently get screwed – if we’re spending all the money now, what will be left? The recession is far from over, and the government can justify throwing tens of billions of dollars to make internet surfing a little (well, a lot) faster.

The consequences of this proposal are so far reaching. For example, the entertainment industry will suffer; faster downloads means more people scamming of them. And of course, it’s not like we won’t be paying for it; internet bills will skyrocket, usage will lag and more and more computers will become infested with viruses due to the extra circulation.

What about our hospitals, our schools and our Public Sphere? Emergency Rooms are filled to the brim every night with people stored away on tray beds in corridors. Students are unable to get the most out of their education due to the lack of school funding. Public Servants take a slap across the face as their pay increases become fixed and may not suffice over the growing inflation. This is absolute rubbish. I would rather my mother stay in the Black than make Googling easier. I can understand the general motives of the idea, but why introduce it when we have no money, where lower level Public Servants have to stem the tide of Recession without government help? Give it 3 years, it’s not that important.

Then again, Mr. Rudd has also gone the opposite way, throwing money into the Public Sector where it is not appreciated. Alinjarra benefitted 2.5M from Kevin’s $41B stimulus package, but they had no sway over how that money was to be spent. They’re receiving a new oval (which is needed), re-carpeting (also needed in one of the blocks), and a brand new school building. Seeing as they have empty classrooms as it is, I doubt a new building is necessary, especially when it is going to cost over 2M to build. It has been generally recognised as the biggest waste of money. A more beneficial use for the money would have been to, I don’t know, consult the teachers on what they essentially need before throwing the school an unwanted new block. Not just handing the money over, but allowing the teachers to petition what the school could use – new equipment, furniture, the leaks to be fixed, better heating systems, stationary etc. The school couldn’t even scrounge money from the government to put on a service and a notice in the paper after one of their children died. It is pathetic. Money is supposed to be so tight, yet here the state government is, throwing money away. I’ll gladly take that $2M. Giving it to me doesn’t seem any more wasteful that what they’re actually doing with it.

Fair enough the recession has made everything tight, but all the government is trying to do is win votes. It is such bullshit, I can’t even express how frustrated I am. I would rather the state not take a 3% budget cut than be flippant about the money Ruddy has somehow picked up. The nation is in debt, heaps of it, and fair enough if some schools need new buildings, but you can be damn sure Alinjarra isn’t the only poster institution to buy more votes.

I could do a better job in the treasury!

xx