Two million dollars per house?

This goes to the heart of my concerns about grand government schemes, whether to rapidly stimulate the economy or take over the hospital system.   Or indeed in designing what could be the greatest boondoggle in human history, the emissions trading scheme (which financial institutions and insurance companies are just rubbing their hands in anticipatory glee over, with Lehman Brothers busily positioning itself to make an expecting killing on such schemes before it went down the gurgler, as was Enron.)   One question I always ask people is "when was the last time you saw the government do something efficiently and well, on time and on budget, and which achieved its aims without unforeseen and unfortunate unintended consequences?"   Not only are the houses not yet built, each costs the price of the grandest mansion: NORTHERN Territory Aboriginal Affairs Minister Alison Anerson has threatened to quit the Labor party in protest over the Rudd government’s “appalling” handling of a $700million remote housing package that she labelled a “big farce”.   Ms Anderson, an Aboriginal Labor MP from central Australia, challenged her federal counterpart Jenny Macklin to “start keeping an eye on her money” after it was revealed as few as 300 houses may be built in the $672m Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program. At $2 million a house, and with huge delays, we must conclude:   1. Building welfare ghettoes in the far outback is a money-eating extravagence, even ignoring the often toxic results.   2. Government money is involved.   Andrew Bolt

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