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November 18, 2008
Robert Gottliebsen in Spending what we don't have in Business Spectator says:
we don’t have the money to hand out tax gifts in the longer term given that the mineral boom, which spawned all our tax cuts in recent times, is no longer there. Right now we are dependent on the Chinese and Japanese shipping us big lumps of money to finance our consumers who are among the most indebted in the world.
That's a different scenario about our consumers ---deeply indebted. Gottliebsen says that we can only keep going if our banks can keep borrowing overseas in a world where borrowing has become a dirty word. Meanwhile Japan slips into recession due to reduced demand for its exports in the US and Europe. That means less Japanese demand for Australian coal and iron ore.
Listening to the local government chat on Radio National Breakfast about the Australian Council of Local Governments in Canberra I was taken back by what the local government mayors didn't say. All interviewed said they had need for lots of infrastructure investment to help stimulate economic growth not one connected that infrastructure investment to help live in a world of climate change.
Using the global economic crisis to provide a stimulus to tackle climate change is not on their radar. They -- and the Rudd Government --- are talking in terms of roads, swimming pools, parks, community centres ---not recycling storm water, solar power, or connecting wind power to the national grid, energy efficiency, modern sewerage treatment plants. So the rhetoric of "decisive action", "being ahead of the curve" , and "acting decisively" with respect to climate change is political spin.
Here we are talking about new infrastructure projects----dreaming---- when local councils around Australia do not have the funds to maintain existing infrastructure. They are restricted in terms of their revenue and so cannot really plan for the long term.
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Local government is talking about taking over some of the ABC child care centres. So are community banks such as Bendigo and Adelaide Banks.