Gina Rinehart’s bold idea for Australia dismissed by Albanese government
The Albanian government has rejected the idea of forming a unit to reduce government waste in Australia, after the idea was put forward by two billionaires.
Tesla CEO and
Federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said on the Sunrise program on Wednesday morning that ordinary Aussies should “get a shiver down their spine when we see a few billionaires talking about the efficiency of government services”.
“What that really means for your viewers is drastic cuts to essential services like health, education and other services that we ordinary Australians rely on,” Ms O’Neil told Nat Barr on her Sunrise show.
“This has no relevance to Australia.”
‘Why exactly?’ Barr interrupted.
‘Because Nat the government is doing some incredibly important things. It looks after our sick children in hospital, it educates our children, it pays for aged care for Australians,” Ms O’Neil replied.
“These are abstract things for billionaires who can pay for themselves, but for ordinary people these are meaningful and important things in their lives.”
Housing Minister Claire O’Neil (pictured left) has rejected the idea of an Australian government cost-cutting unit led by business magnates
However, Barr was still not convinced.
“A lot of people today might be sitting there in their living room and thinking, ‘Okay, I mean, whether you like Elon Musk or not, but if someone becomes a billionaire, maybe they know how to make money. knows how to reduce waste,” Barr said.
‘Let’s try them.
“I just think maybe people at home are open, I mean, we, we know you have to run the government, but maybe people are interested in knowing exactly where the money is going, maybe we should be open to that.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Jane Hume accused Ms O’Neil of being “hugely disrespectful” in her response when she spoke about Mr Musk and Ms Rinehart, who are worth more than $466 billion and $30 billion respectively.
“You don’t get to be the richest man in the world and the richest person in Australia by accident, you get there because you have ideas about how to be efficient, how to be effective and how to be profitable,” Ms Hume said. .
“I wish the government would spend taxpayers’ money more wisely, and you should too.
‘In fact, 36,000 additional civil servants have been added since the start of this government. 36,000.
Gina Rinehart (photo left) supports Elon Musk (photo right) in his new role to reduce government waste
Many Australians have called on the Albanian government to establish a Department of Government Efficiency
“That costs billions of dollars, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t necessarily feel like $36,000. Civil servants are better served than I was two years ago.’
Ms Hume appeared to be referring to an Australian Bureau of Statistics report which said 26,000 civil servants had been added to the bureaucracy since the Albanian government came to power in 2022.
With more than half of that increase in new jobs in Canberra, the national capital’s wage bill was up 23 per cent.
Total public sector wages were $37 billion per year, up from $32.5 billion in June 2022, with a total workforce of 365,400.
According to the report, 15,100 public sector jobs will be added in the period 2023-2024, after 11,000 jobs were created in the first year of the Albanian government.