20 ways how to F—k up an economy!
By our Local NT Government. (witnessed and written about by me, a lowly peasant, oops I mean citizen, but I don't want to steal their limelight, they did all the work... proudly.)
Don’t get me wrong, continuously I’ve discussed economic factors and events with several sitting politicians and pundits from both sides of the isle. To say Holes and Homes is their main concern would be an understatement, but forgiving the lack of economic and financial intelligence by both the local bureaucracy and the half-wits presented for us to vote on what we have seen is that they can’t even get the Mining and Housing sector right, so we didn’t stand much of a chance for anything else.
For those blaming either side for the problems, I say, they have both been as bad as each other, but given that we currently have a government with a massive, albeit, unstoppable majority of 18 members and an opposition of 2, this current government could really make some changes to fix things, but lets reflect first on both sides F-ups.
I’m releasing one of these at a time, then I’ll provide 20 ways they might make some positive changes, so in the new year we might be able to re-invigorate our currently sitting government to get back to work and maybe represent the people again, as most who know me can attest, I have a critical mind, with a positive outlook.
So here's Number 11.Copy and Paste the NT.
In the Territory we understand that sometimes its better to look at templates and historical idea’s and actions to determine better ways of doing things. However, consecutive governments and bureaucrats in the Territory have created a “Copy and Paste” mentality that not only has seen us slugged for plagiarism and corporate theft, but also made us an intellectual and commercial laughing stock to Australian and foreign investors alike.
Worse, this mentality comes from the very top and like a weed has perpetuated the thinking and actions of those that serve us.
Some rather embarrassing public examples –
• 2017 Budget by Treasurer Nicole Manison’s Budget department.
• Failure for a major NT Government Power resource to check if they could use the Logo they were using (corporate theft) and the subsequent name changes etc to said departments and logo’s since. (More Millions lost)
• The NT Recycling scheme (still includes a failure to get 10c on wine bottles, an action placed in the SA legislation due to lobbying from the Wine industry at its inception originally in South Australia)
• The Local EPA, and environmental protections legislation, this could have been linked directly to the Victorian website for greater care and clarification. But, it does make it easier to hire an experienced legal expert, just call a Victoria Lawyer for help.
• The Agents licencing Act, with some changes and upgrades over time, it mirrors the original in many ways a direct copy of New Zealand’s Real estate Act written in the 1960’s. It still includes under 112.1 like that of the New Zealand Act, and unlike that of some other states, the inability for a licensed agent to share the commission, for example, referral payments made to third parties, who are not licenced agents. (that’s something many agents from down south use as an incentive to gain more sales and rentals etc. but can’t be used locally).
And I'm sure there's many more.
The NTG can be forgiven for the continued use of documentation from prior to self-government, but we and our representatives have had almost 40 years to rewrite better and more relevant legislation, acts and most notably, budgets and budget submissions to better suit the needs for Territorians.
Federal legislation has higher jurisdiction anyway for many of the local acts etc. But, due to our small population it is quite common for our representatives to fail to be part of, or give any feedback in regards, to how such legislation may benefit, or negatively affect Territorians. (recent example. Recent changes and federal negotiations with a third-party concession and income card)
Legislation and acts can impose a tremendous amount of legal and monetary costs on the public, some are progressive, many are regressive and totalitarian in nature. In most cases, its better to “not write it” or impose legislation than to copy and paste another.
When writing laws, legislation and acts, it is always important to clarify intent. The lack of transparent intent has led, and will continue to lead to greater deviation from the public's best interest and “Natural justice”.
The cost of the Copy and Paste mentality should be evident, but, this failure to adequately research and rewrite some submissions has been in the Billions. As my Nana used to say “Not all prawns are equal!”
