What would you do with half a million?

Half a million dollars that is. I could use that sort of money. It would be very, very useful right now.

It is going to cost us this, as taxpayers, for the Prime Minister to fly all the Members and the Senators of the Labor party back to Canberra for a meeting...a meeting about the "cost of living crisis". He wants some ideas!

I suppose, being a simple sort of cat, I am not sufficiently politically aware to realise that this is, apparently, how it is done. Apparently you do not need to go to an election with ideas and policies. They can wait until you have been in office almost two years...and you may not even need to have any then. You can simply make it look as if you are having ideas.

I am guessing there might be one outcome of this "meeting". It will be a decision to do away with the promised round of tax cuts. This was a promise made by the previous government and the present government made it a "promise" to retain those cuts. It was a big election winner in their book. "Vote for us and you can still keep the tax cuts. You will be even better off than before. We are going to cut the cost of living."  They also promised that we would reach those "renewable energy targets" and that "power will be cheaper".

None of this has happened of course. There have been all sorts of excuses but perhaps people are beginning to realise that, as a country, we really are in financial trouble. The recent referendum on an indigenous voice to parliament cost not half a million dollars but half a billion dollars...and counting. That money could have been saved if the government had listened. If they really wanted to have a referendum on the issue it could have waited until election time and the cost could at least have been dramatically reduced as polling stations would have to be open and staffed anyway.  

There is also no way that "renewable" energy will be "cheaper" than other forms. Oh, the arguments all seem to be there. We are told it will mean we are doing our bit to save the planet, that wind and sun are free. The reality is otherwise. Solar panels still have to be manufactured - but not here. Wind turbines still have to me manufactured - but not here. We need places to put them - often on good farm land because you need to get the power to the people. The "big batteries" do not store enough power to be useful - less than a day's supply for a small city.  We can't use nuclear power of course - even if other countries do. Despite this I suspect there will be a push for "more renewables to lower the cost of living". 

It will all look as if the government is doing something, the "right" thing. It will be made to look as if they really do "care" about us. More money might be handed out to "working parents" so they can keep their children in "child care" but grandparents will also be expected to pick up more of the work either by remaining in work, going back to work or caring for the grandchildren. There will be talk of raising the retiring age again - perhaps to 70 - and getting employers to put an even greater contribution into superannuation schemes. (Of course the superannuation schemes will need to be those approved by the unions and run by them.)

There will be talk of "pay rises" for the workers...and how to ensure they don't add to inflation. You can also be sure that there will be a discussion about how to get people to spend all those savings they currently have squirreled away...so that the problem of paying their own way in old age is passed on to the next generation.

I can think of something that won't be discussed though. They will not be discussing how to lower our standard of living to a more affordable level. That would be seen as political suicide...and staying in power is more important than anything else.