Government Building Co.: Houses @ $896,000.00 + each.

Illustration: KevinRuddRLess

Yesterday an article was published in the US by Clifford Thies, “Aussie politics: Rudd may be in for a Rude Awakening,” pointing out what most of us except died in the wool Labor supporters know:

The latest from Australia... it appears that the Liberal-National Coalition has caught-up with, and may even have surpassed Labor in the polls. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a climate change advocate, who was elected in 2007, may turn out to be a one-termer. The next election must be held by April 11, 2011.

Asked for a contribution I added:

The Rudd government has caused this situation themselves through bad policies and sheer incompetence in their implementation. While the Liberals under Howard were able to bring the budget into surplus and repay debt, they completely failed to halt the growth of government spending, which had they done so would have reduced the average tax burden to around 20%.

In less than three years though Rudd has spent the future fund created by the Liberals and gone into massive deficit spending.

In the Australian this weekend is another example of just why these idiots deserve to lose, despite the fact that the Liberals don’t deserve to win.

“THE federal government has quietly - but radically - shifted the boundaries of the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program, conceding that its plan to build 750 houses in 16 remote Northern Territory communities will require significant additional investment.”

That’s right, they can’t build 750 homes for $692 million dollars. This may seem a bit of a harsh judgment on first viewing, but if you divide $692,000,000.00 by 750 you get the figure of $896,000.00, the average figure for each of those houses. Admittedly the cost of houses in remote areas is higher owing to additional transport costs, but given that $250,000 gets you something pretty flash down here, this is ridiculous.

The Australian has been chasing down this issue for some time, first highlighting the wastage and bureaucratic red tape that was strangling the SIHIP last year, when it was found that as little as 30 per cent of the housing funds would be spent on building houses.

It was then revealed that after spending $43 million no houses had actually been built at all. I guess you can’t just go rushing in and doing it like they do in the private sector. That would cause chaos, much better to hire expensive consultants, more bureaucrats, establish offices, and whatever the hell else these pencil pushers feel they are entitled to at taxpayers expense.

In the last year, they have really pulled their fingers out and after 2 1/2 years have completed 11 houses. At this time they are going so badly that they have failed to get the approval to go ahead with the scheme from over half the communities involved.

But don’t worry according to Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin; it will enable the government to capitalize on economies of scale and other efficiencies associated with large-scale building works. Packages of works will be allocated progressively, community by community, as leases are finalized and preparatory planning in the communities has been undertaken."

But still, $896,000 is not enough to build a house?