tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post7298154659817008942..comments2023-11-03T19:05:08.512+11:00Comments on Harry Clarke: Pork-barrelling on hospitals - bad move JWHUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-76747469513616686272007-08-05T10:56:00.000+10:002007-08-05T10:56:00.000+10:00WhyisitsoI am not sure whether you are being toung...Whyisitso<BR/><BR/>I am not sure whether you are being toungue in cheek when you say that the States only have to run hospitals, schools and public transport efficiently. It is in those areas that most of the thorny economic issues arise, especially given that the electorate expects equity issues (rightly or wrongly)to be addressed at the same time.<BR/><BR/>I am also not sure what you mean when you say they don't have to raise much of the revenue to do these jobs. They have to obtain sufficient revenue to at least cover their recurrent expenditure. The fact that one of the sources of this revenue is the GST, which is collected by the Australian Tax Office on behalf of the States doesn't substantially lessen their budget management task. Tax collection (as oppposed to budget management) is not exactly rocket science.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-78452226570617083872007-08-04T21:53:00.000+10:002007-08-04T21:53:00.000+10:00And the Coalition's argument is perfectly correct,...And the Coalition's argument is perfectly correct, mark u. The State governments don't have to do much in the policy area. They just have to run basic services like water, hospitals, schools, public transport and so on efficiently. They don't even have to raise much of the revenue to do these jobs. They do their jobs particularly badly, none more so than the Iemma government in NSW. 2007 is destined to be a black year for NSW. We've reinstalled arguably the worst State government in Australia's history and now will be the largest contributor to the defeat of one of the two best federal governments we've had since federation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-74906697459035191222007-08-04T20:17:00.000+10:002007-08-04T20:17:00.000+10:00HarryI agree with you entirely that this seems lik...Harry<BR/><BR/>I agree with you entirely that this seems like terrible policy. But it is part of Howard's current strategy to portray State Labor governments as so incompetent that the Feds have to continually step in. Expect one line in the Coalition's election campaign to be: "The State Labor Governments have dropped the ball on water, health, education and aborigines. And we are better at running the economy and tougher on national security. So how can you possibly trust Labor to run the whole country?".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com