Steve Burrell of Sydney Morning Herald on Aug 14, 2007 ( http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/nobody-tackles-after-pm-throws-a-hospital-pass/2007/08/13/1186857430882.html )
listed for comments a number of Howard government’s targeted pork barrelling in recent months in a cynical and desperate effort to survive the next elections. The list included
- Taking over a non-viable hospital in Tasmania
- Funding legal challenges to amalgamation of local councils recommended by an independent review
- Propping up a timber mill that was in danger of losing supplies after breaching contracts with the state NSW government
All the interventions were in marginal seats. All were directed against reforms which governments and businesses advocated.
Burrell’s main point was not that the Howard government’s desperate intervention was surprising. It was the deafening silence from the business sector. A sad state of affairs indeed !
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I remember history lessons in school when, in several older Asian cultures, buisnessmen and traders were held in low esteem.
Time for a return to to those days, methinks.
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