history repeats itself, page-4

Sorry Konkat, your post was so good, I thought Walt posted it.


There is not a word from the SMH reporters this morning in Syd.

The editorial is good.

But it is assuming the contract is gone.



:

"The Transport Minister, John Watkins, told the Herald: "The Government will do whatever we can to protect commuters from disruption and taxpayers from risk." The same timidity has marked this project throughout. To simplify fares would mean taking on transport bureaucracies and private companies. That would alienate powerful interest groups, including transport unions. It would quite possibly mean some commuters paid higher fares, though many would also pay less. Voters might not like it. The result: more than $60 million of taxpayers' money has been spent on getting a company to create a system that is beyond its capability, possibly beyond anyone's capability. How, exactly, has the shrinking-violet approach to the task of government protected taxpayers from risk?