A classic case of the Australian government denying that it is the Australian government (opens in new tab)

Most of the examples of fiscal austerity leave one puzzled as a result of the sheer myopia that is usually present – the ‘save a penny today to spend a dollar tomorrow’ sort of nonsense that history tells us repeats when governments try to reduce spending in areas that it should not. But sometimes one encounters examples of the government pretending not to be the government and making decisions that are just absurd on any basis. Here is one example that is current in the Australian context bu...