Antonius and some others havn't a clue.
The money that went overseas to taxpayers will be those that have property
or share investments in Australia. Some will be Australians living
either temporarily or permanently overseas.

They should not get the money as it is intended to be put into
circulation here.

If the purpose is to get industry cranked up here, why didn't the
government just put it into a bank account.
The banks could have just lent it out.
It would not be going to China to pay for TVs.

Dear Belly, I remember getting a toy for Christmas, a plastic cash register, some plastic money and some “things to sell” so we could play shops. Our government is like a bunch of kids playing a pretend game of running the country. As with all kids they play out the game with imagination but no concept whatsoever of reality.

Act 1. Scene1.We have Ping Pong saying, let’s pretend you want to buy one of these.
Customer; What is it Ping Pong?
Ping; Well, it’s an ETS.
Customer; Oh goody, what does it do?
Ping; Well, it will add $11.8bn into general revenue in year one.
Customer; Oh good, how much will it cost me in Jobs, about $11.8bn I guess?
Ping; It won’t cost any jobs silly, because we will grow new jobs in the renewable energy sector.
Customer; Oh! I see, you mean if we can grow the renewable sector it will replace the jobs we won’t lose because of the ETS?
Ping; Exactly! Well, err! No, because we won’t lose any jobs so we won’t have to replace them.
Customer; so why mention jobs growth in renewable sector?
Ping; Look, it’s just a game, why can’t you just go along with this and stop asking silly questions, just “pretend” its real, OK?
Customer; OooohKaaaaay. But can I just ask, how will these renewable energy jobs we don’t need be made?
Ping; Well,”industry” of course, silly.
Customer; Look, I know this is silly to ask Ping, but don’t we have a global financial crisis, a credit crunch and even existing industry can’t get funds, so how will a new and speculative industry be able to start up?
Ping; I’m not playing with you any more.
Customer; Well do you have any other things I can buy?
Ping; well actually yes, how about this, we have a Stimulus Package, an IR thingy, an Education Revolution and an “End the Blame” game.
Customer: Are all these made by “Knee Jerk Pty Ltd”?
Ping; Right that’s it, if you can’t play nicely I’m not playing!

Curtain slowly descends.

Well with continued cuts to the public service more mistakes like this are bound to happen.

Particularly such as in this case, for agencies like Centrelink who have a high operational function and forever seem to be faced by staffing cuts usually from the frontline staff who are required to deal with members of the public. And then face the ire from the public when things go awry.

The senior executive end of the APS is rarely cut, the cuts are always made at the lower end where the service is provided.

The latest APSC report noted the rise in senior roles over the last years and the reduction in lower end staff. This is not an efficient way to run a public service, when the aim is to provide a public service.

That's very funny spindoc and very accurate.

The alternative energy industries are promising us 2-3 times the number of jobs created than other industries for every dollar spent too. A fall in productivity is the way to go apparently.

Belly to date nobody is blaming Rudd for the economic mess, but the minute unemployment rises after the enactment of the ETS and after the new IR laws come in, and after he raises taxes to pay for the handouts; this will begin to be seen as Kevins Recession.

Dear Belly,

The following website may clear some things up
for posters:

It's from the Sydney Morning Herald entitled:
"Thousands of foreigners splurge stimulus overseas."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/thousands-of-foreigners-splurge-stimulus-overseas-20090311-8vcg.html?page=1

69,000 cheques sent overseas,About $100.000 AUD.
Do you know how many millions of dollars win australian taxpayers each year from Australian pensioners who have lived out from Australia?
Do we give them rent assist? NO!
Do we give them water, elecricity, buss tickets etc? NO!
We we give them their medicine? No!
Do we give them money for hospitals, doctors, etc NO!
So we pay carers for them?No!
Can you estimate how many millions of dollars we win because some from our pensioners live overseas and not in Australia?
Do you think we can descriminate against them? Stimulus or not stimulus pack what we give to pensioners here the same we MUST give to our pensioners overseas.
Are we croocks? are we so cheap, so dirty to violate their rights for $100.000 dollars?
The Australian government IS RESPONSIBLE AND MATURE AND IT DID THE RIGHT THING, BUT MOST WRITERS OF THIS FORUM ARE NATIONALISTS AND DOES NOT CARE AT ALL FOR OUR PENSIONERS RIGHTS WHO LIVE OVERSEAS.
Now I understand why you do not use your real name,
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide