Very interesting article. The myth that the government is the enemy seems to be an import from America--the government is not some kind of imposition but an expression of public policy.

It's not surprising that the Coalition promotes the tendentious nonsense about 'nanny states' and the evils of 'big government', without the institutions of government, the public would be at the mercy of the rich, powerful and rapacious, the Coalition's natural constituency.

'Governments and not-for-profit organisations complement rather then compete with each other. A strong civil society requires vigorous, effective governments as well as prospering economies'.

Could not be more true. I worked for 15 years as a Landcare Development officer and one of my roles was to facilitate Landcare groups obtaining matching funding to put projects on the ground. I worked with hundreds of leading farmers volunteering their time to put in millions of dollars worth of works on the ground, but without the paid positions such as mine, little of this would have happened.

PS I support a civil 'national service' for youth without work and have worked with a similar group under a Keating Govt funded work program for unemployed youth. It worked well. Only reason that it isn't still done is that it costs much more than just handing out the dole. Apparently governments don't think youth (our most precious asset) are worth the investment.

Interesting comments, Roses1. I think those who are concerned about the extra costs of government funded work programs, civil 'national service' or other such initiatives may well be short-sighted. I'm sure it would cost more to acquire equipment and provide training to these unemployed youths, but surely the return on the investment would be considerable. Work gets done and unskilled layabouts become skilled labourers. I know it would put noses out of joint and there would be a bit of a fuss over job losses (why pay a council worker to mow lawns and tend gardens when you can have unemployed people do it for the price of their dole?), but some creative thinking would be worth undertaking. Upskill the unemployed and have them do the base-level jobs while those with experience tackle the bigger challenges.

Sadly, in this climate of 'balanced budgets at any cost', we're unlikely to see short-term outlay for the sake of a big picture.

James Whelan is a Public Service Research Director and like many in the PS wants tomaintain the status qou.Aside from giving 10% to the N for their one world fascist Govt what is the Labor Party going to do with $ billions in CO2 tax revenue.Yes they are going to expand their empires, making us even more enslaved.They will used this money as a bribe to win another election.

We in the West have an Oligarchy, ie the combination of big business and Govt that give us few choices.We can all see that in community services 50% of revenues get sucked up by the bureaucracy for little effect on the basic problems in our society.

Let the ordinary people keep more of what is theirs and get Big Govt out of all of our lives.

Big government has a tendency to step beyond the reasonable and act according to which lobby group has the most effective voice.

Big government will act based on stereotypes rather than individual circumstance.

Often it will by design or default work to the advantage of the manipulators rather than the responsible and honest.

The author listed some stats about actual involvement in community work by those opposed to big government. How about some stats on how many supporters of big government make voluntary extra payments to the tax department, not to a specific charity or cause they support but to the government to use where they choose. Anybody who does not pay some extras tax they don't need to pay is not really a supporter of big government, they are a supporter of forcing others pay for stuff they would not otherwise choose to pay for.

In my own case I'm loosing around half my gross income at government decree before I have any say in the matter. The latest round of changes has necessitated me working extra hours to cope with a child support assessment which has me paying more than double the costs of r4aising our son to my ex because CSA works to a big government formula which pays no attention to fairness or need. I cost I could bear without much grief when I had control over it blows out to a crippling bonus to a user when the government gets involved.

R0bert

"the government is not some kind of imposition but an expression of public policy."

It just seems that on the whole I disagree with most of that policy and I am just sure I want to be part of a society that thinks these policies are "good". What does one do, when nearly all policy from Government is against ones beliefs ?

That aside, it's not all "from America". For example, I succinctly recall that crazy Austrian Nobel laureate FA Hayek saying something similar.