More misuse of public resources by the Howard government
No, I'm not referring to the expensive refit of Howard's plane or the posh cabinet chairs - travelling in luxury is not the most objectionable example of Howard government's misuse of public funds. Misusing taxpayer money to keep himself in power is much worse - especially when the money is directed to misinformation of the public.
I have previously written about some $2 billion Howard spent on advertising himself. His excuse was that he was "informing" the people - although it is not clear what accurate information can be gained from advertisements such as for the WorkChoices. Apparently the PM decided that a multi-billion dollar promotion budget was not enough to continue his desperate cling to power and so now the taxpayers are funding specialist propaganda units, secretly set up by the government.
One unit, reportedly set up under the auspices of Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (although not surprisingly none of its staff is listed in official staff handbooks) at the cost of more than $1 million is said by an insider to have only "one brief — shoot down Labor's plan and promote the Government's plan." It is producing "information kits" for Liberal candidates in marginal seats and will design a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to be run by the government (again at taxpayer expense).
Another propaganda unit called the "Government Members' Secretariat" employs 14 staff at a $1.5 million cost to the taxpayer. It's brief is solely to exclusively to help Coalition MPs with their election campaigning. It was reported that Philip Ruddock runs yet another "dirt unit" (funded by the taxpayer), although Ruddock, not surprisingly, denied the allegation. The Age reports that Howard government ministers employ up to 20 staff "whose sole task is to help the Government get re-elected and whose work has nothing to do with their ministers' portfolios."
The PM also employs some 73 media advisors and spin doctors at a cost of $8.4 million per year (up from $5.9 million three years ago), again all at public expense. To be fair, Kevin Rudd also has taxpayer-funded advisors, but only 16 of them, at a cost of $1.2 million, ie 14% of what Howard spends.
It is true that all governments use public money and they can do so legitimately. However, the Howard government is using our money to feed us spin and to promote itself, it is using public funds in its own interest, not in the interest of the nation. Be it secret propaganda units or idiotic billboards about the link between unions and Labor (I saw one today - talk about a waste of space!) such activities are not legitimate, they reek of corruption. We pay taxes so the government can use the money for the benefit of the country - not to keep itself in power.
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