Just try to imagine how great life for us would be if not for the billions we waste on trying to deal with 'avaoidable problems' we face almost on a daily basis.

Take the war in Afganistan, the boat people debarcle, the problems associated with indiginous communities.

The war. Not our war but none the less it costs us billions year in year out. Not to mention young lives.

The boat people, another huge drain on our finances, with billions each year being gobbled up by a very small number of people, and the problems associated with indiginous communities.

We look like having to fund yet another royal commision into that death in Palm Island, yet, had this guy not been blind rotten drunk, there would have been no death in custody as he simply wouldn't have been there in the first place.

Successive governments simply throw billions of 'our money', the tax payers money, at these problems yet we can't even offord for our retirees to enjoy a decent retirement.

I for one am sick to death of these wasted billions and recon it's time, we the tax payers said, 'enough is enough'.

We need to find a way that we have more say in to when and where our money is spent, otherwise, by the time many of us retire there will simply be nothing left to retire on.

Show me the money, show me the wasted billions.
Prove to me it was wasted.
Ask your self if others, even most agree with your view.
Millions ,billions are spent and gone by every government.
Capitalism runs on credit and feeding the economy.
What if we did not stimulate the economy?
If unlike America England we let fate play out?
What if we kept our troops at home, every time, would your world fall apart.
rechtub you must try hard to understand money is not a justification for retreating from the world, but for some it clearly is the hands over the eyes stopping a good view of reality.
I value lifestyle fairness and equity more than riches.

Not all the stimulus package was wasted but reports of rorting and waste are certainly unsettling.

It is all very well to boost the building sector but there is a difference between stimulus and waste. One can still stimulate while ensuring more effective use of resources.

Instead of building unwanted school halls and libraries (in some cases) the money could have hired more early intervention teachers or improved, reduced hospital waiting lists, built better health services in regional areas, rail infrastructure between major cities and ports.

Even increasing pensions for retirees, carers and disabled would not only ensure a better quality of life (above the poverty line) but more money being spent on goods and services for the longer term not just a short term fix.

There is no doubt the stimulus package was well intended but that is not good enough. Revenue is not a bottomless pit to be wasted on ill-thought out and poorly delivered programs.

It was a strong lesson learnt and one that hopefully won't be repeated.

"yet, had this guy not been blind rotten drunk, there would have been no death in custody as he simply wouldn't have been there in the first place."

Rehctub, Your point maybe fundamentally correct but is none the less vile. Because he was drunk it was therefore his fault that he had his liver delivered a trauma so intense that it was almost severed in half. Don't even try to tell me that it was somehow this guys fault.

Pelican. You can not think that government will learn the lesson. They have done it before they will do it again. In the case of the stimulas package it was a screaming success as far as the government were concerned. It propped up the unemployment figures, maintained the retail sector and has attracted wide spread praise from international financial observers. The fact that as you say it could have been better spent on more sustainable and long term projects is true but not the point of the stimulas. It was to be spent fast and hard to cover the whole that the mining sector was leaving in the economy.

The building industry was targeted because of the hugh employment in that sector. The industry walks a knifes edge all the time and it would take little for employment to collapse leading to a rise in unemployment. This would be widely damaging to the economy.

Yes Billions are wasted every year, personally one of the worst in my opinion is the family tax benefit bonus paid each year. Howard paid it as an election bribe back about 2001( i think? ) and it worked he got a big mum and dad vote but it was wrong. Now what was a bonus paid from the surplus has become permanent costing big dollars in debt. Had this been a payment to all Australians based on a percentage of the surplus i would agree. It would also be a big incentive for government to maintain surpluses.

nairbe
My hope was that this particular government would heed the lessons learned rather than a future government (agree lessons of the past are usually forgotten after a period of time).

I always wonder why the building sector is always targeted for stimulus, not just under this government. I guess the spin-offs are greater to smaller suppliers and related industries.

In relation to purely retail sales, there are other growing employment sectors that equally contribute to retail sales, and where there is great demand such as in the aged care and health sector where salaries are too low to attract good staff, and lucky to keep the good ones who remain.

The baby bonus is another huge burden, and I always wonder why those who find the need for a baby bonus to start a family always manage to find money for an oversized house and the latest eletrical gadgets. Whatever happened to saving up?

Pelican,
Unfortunately, unless they are hiding someone special on the back bench i don't see anyone in the current government that appears to have the leadership and discipline to control the spending. Unlike most people i think most of the programs the government have come up with are really good. The problem is they always lack detail when released and are then poorly executed costing not more money but better productivity for the money.

I know health and particularly aged care could do with much larger and better qualified staff to drive them into the future. The biggest problem in this area is that the money put in is gone. Unlike the building industry that leaves behind an asset, aged care is a black hole so though it puts money in pockets as wages it will only leave behind facilities that need constant updating and have little asset value except for the land.

Agree with the baby bonus, we got a couple of hundred each when we had our kids and was appreciated, but the money handed out now is poorly targeted. It would seem that having children is not a life decision anymore it is simply three paid months off work then put them in care. It may seem liberating to some but i rather make sacrifices like not having a new car and boat to make sure someone is home when the kids get back from school.