Darron CharlesworthWho is rorting the system?
August 15th 2010 14:50
Category: No Category
Reports of rorting and waste in the Government’s Building the Education Revolution program (BER) strike a serious blow to public confidence. Although there is much deserved criticism of the Government’s handling of the project this is not what should be most alarming. What about those taking advantage of the taxpayer’s purse?
Hardly any real criticism has been levelled at the unscrupulous operators cashing in at everyone’s expense. Unwarranted fees, extra charges for site management, continual cost blowouts, all reaping extra cash to firms profiting from this project. Why is no-one investigating them?
This is not an attempt in any way to defend the government – they are without question guilty of horrendous mismanagement or presiding over same. These practices though are not new either. Similar rorts have been seen under past governments both Labor and Liberal. Bureaucratic incompetence it seems holds no relevance to political persuasion.
For now then let us assume that the public service incompetence is not deliberate – hard to believe as that is. The question here is directed to those private companies maliciously rorting the system: do they rip off all their customers or just the public purse?
Not that there is a new theme here. Ripping off the government has been a popular pastime for many years. When will everyone wake up to the fact that every dollar they screw out of the system is one more that they or their neighbour, will have to put back in from somewhere else. The other side of this is that a dollar spent in one area means one less for another.
Nearly every service area of government responsibility is begging for more funding: desperately. Health and education are two of the most severely effected. But they are not alone. Cut-backs across the board have left many departments unable to do their work effectively. The staff is stretched. Wages are low and the hard working public servants including teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and firemen are not paid what they are worth.
All the while private contractors are ripping off the public and profiting at the expense of government employees and loss of service provision. These operators need to take a good look at themselves and start showing some social responsibility. The media should be taking a harder look at this profiteering. The public should stop supporting companies’ heartless greed.
More should be done to identify those who think that public money is a limitless cash creator. The politicians who allow these unsavoury practices to continue removing from office however, they alone should not carry the blame. The public should be making the culprits just as accountable as the politicians because they are just as guilty: if not more so.
Hardly any real criticism has been levelled at the unscrupulous operators cashing in at everyone’s expense. Unwarranted fees, extra charges for site management, continual cost blowouts, all reaping extra cash to firms profiting from this project. Why is no-one investigating them?
This is not an attempt in any way to defend the government – they are without question guilty of horrendous mismanagement or presiding over same. These practices though are not new either. Similar rorts have been seen under past governments both Labor and Liberal. Bureaucratic incompetence it seems holds no relevance to political persuasion.
For now then let us assume that the public service incompetence is not deliberate – hard to believe as that is. The question here is directed to those private companies maliciously rorting the system: do they rip off all their customers or just the public purse?
Not that there is a new theme here. Ripping off the government has been a popular pastime for many years. When will everyone wake up to the fact that every dollar they screw out of the system is one more that they or their neighbour, will have to put back in from somewhere else. The other side of this is that a dollar spent in one area means one less for another.
Nearly every service area of government responsibility is begging for more funding: desperately. Health and education are two of the most severely effected. But they are not alone. Cut-backs across the board have left many departments unable to do their work effectively. The staff is stretched. Wages are low and the hard working public servants including teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and firemen are not paid what they are worth.
All the while private contractors are ripping off the public and profiting at the expense of government employees and loss of service provision. These operators need to take a good look at themselves and start showing some social responsibility. The media should be taking a harder look at this profiteering. The public should stop supporting companies’ heartless greed.
More should be done to identify those who think that public money is a limitless cash creator. The politicians who allow these unsavoury practices to continue removing from office however, they alone should not carry the blame. The public should be making the culprits just as accountable as the politicians because they are just as guilty: if not more so.
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