Does the Australian government have more money than cents?

Madeline Link fills you in on how the government plans to ‘treat yo’self’.

The 2015-16 Australian Federal Budget was released on Tuesday, with small enterprises and families winning big.
But is the budget all it’s cracked up to be?

It’s the 21^st Century and less than 20 per cent of Australians attend church more than once a month, but the government is still shelling out $60.6 million for the school chaplaincy program every year for the next four years. That’s enough to commission P. Diddy performances 60 times, every year for the next four years.

For those that weren’t aware, people smugglers are flocking to our shores in droves. If you thought ignorance was bliss, think again. The Australian government is spending $39.9 million on anti-people smuggling propaganda for those of us that already live in the country.

Australia is the best, and the people deserve to know it. So we’re spending $9.2 million over four years on ‘Australia Week’ to let everybody know just how good we really are.

As a country that’s well-known for exporting its goods, we’ve decided to dabble in the imports of others waste. That’s right, we’re bringing in nuclear waste from the UK to be stored at Lucas Heights at a $26.8 million price tag.

However, not all spending has been frivolous. For the people of Bathurst, you’re in luck. A giant, shiny flagpole worth a quarter of a million dollars is about to be erected in your honour.

With all this spending, it’s only logical that there be cuts to less important areas, such as foreign aid and climate change. You heard it, we’re spending more than $39 million to let desperate people know they can’t come here and a meagre $550 million on climate spending (down from $1.35 billion in 2014-15) to ensure that one day Australia won’t be a place worth coming to. But the future of the earth isn’t high on our priority list. As long as we can still grow onions, right Tony?

Image Source: Ben Hosking, cropped