The federal government has taken a once-in-a-generation or, even more ominously, a once-in-a-lifetime, bonanza and completely wasted the opportunity to really prepare Australia to meet the future.
The budget has done nothing meaningful to address the real crises that beset Australia.
We have cities running out of water. Where is the funding to start to look at the desperately needed national water reticulation infrastructure?
We have cities choking to death. Where is the funding to fix public transport and urban roads infrastructure?
Did anyone mention global warming? Where is a cent of the windfall directed to the problem that future generations will have to live or die with?
We have an energy crisis. Where is the money to support the innovation required in energy conservation and new forms of energy?
We have a national road infrastructure that even 30 years ago was a disgrace. Where is the money to really sort this out rather than the limp-wristed Band-Aid-on-a-mortar-wound approach perpetuated by this budget?
We have a crisis in public education with an ageing infrastructure that compromises kids' education and an ageing teaching population, up to 40 per cent of whom will head into retirement in the next 10 years. Where is the funding to fix the infrastructure and prepare the next generation of teachers?
We still have a big underclass in Australia. There are 40,000 kids under the age of 20 classified by governments as being at risk. Where is the funding to address this?
We have an ageing population crisis. The Future Fund will ensure that the bloated Canberra bureaucracy and members of parliament will be able to enjoy overseas holidays and good red wine until their death. Where is the Future Fund for the balance of the ageing population who don't have enough time to make up their retirement nest-egg shortfalls?
We can hope Opposition Leader Kim Beazley addresses these problems, but Labor's tendency to navigate by looking into the rear view mirror suggests that this is a vain hope.
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