Politicians need to stop waste at state and federal level

OPINION: When households budget, they try to get value for money. When money is tight, there’s an effort to stop double-ups. Why aren’t our governments being just as vigilant about spending?

STATES have responsibility for child safety, hospitals, youth detention centres and schools — see a pattern?

When it comes to service delivery, states have shown over decades how incompetent they can be, and how they fail the most vulnerable. Directly or indirectly, states receive Commonwealth money for hospitals, schools, kids in foster care or those in youth detention.

The Abbott government established a federation white paper to come up with a plan to identify clear lines of responsibility and to end the blame game between the states and the Commonwealth.

Just as welfare recipients face mutual obligation conditions — that is you receive a taxpayer-funded pay cheque but the deal is that you have to look for a job — the same scrutiny would be applied to the states.

But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull squibbed it. Instead of forging ahead with reforms he dumped it and put it in the too hard basket.

What a wasted opportunity. At a time when money is tight, and Treasurer Scott Morrison lectures the public about living within the country’s means, the Government has conveniently forgotten it has dumped the process that could have ensured taxpayers’ money went further.

Let me put it this way: when households run their budget, they make sure they get value for money. When money is tight, they look at what they are spending to check whether they are not paying twice for something.

Now, more than ever, governments need to be held accountable for the money they spend.

Federal governments, keen for a good headline or a quick fix, have also shown how inept they are at valuing taxpayer money. Some of the most egregious in recent times have been Federal Labor governments — think the Rudd government home insulation scheme and the school hall building program.

And, if there’s ever an example of a federally sponsored multibillion-dollar debacle, it is the vocational training sector.

Here is just one example. Last year, the Australian Childcare Alliance raised concerns about how some registered training organisations signed up people with intellectual disabilities for childcare courses and, in some cases, gave them qualifications.

Senator Simon Birmingham.

ACA president Gwynn Bridge was concerned about how the good providers would be tarnished by the revelations. “It’s tragic. Some (people with disabilities) come with (their own) carer,’’ Ms Bridge told me last year. “These people might be wonderful with children and lovely people. (But are they) able to be in charge of other people’s children?

“I don’t know how they are recruited, whether it comes through a job agency … (but) there’s a (financial) incentive to sign you off even if you aren’t ready and that needs to change.’’

The states fund VET providers including TAKES. VET-FEE-HELP is funded by the Federal Government, which pays a training provider upfront for a diploma-level tuition for a student, who later pays back the taxpayer. Certificate-level courses are paid by the states.

The VET system, likened to the disastrous Rudd government insulation scheme, was significantly expanded in 2012, sparking a rush of private trainers entering the market.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has vowed to fix the problem. Changes will be in place for next year.

While the final figures and plans are yet to be ticked off and yet to go to Cabinet, Senator Birmingham has a good, solid plan to ensure students are no longer lumped with debt and useless courses.

The changes will likely save taxpayers a fortune while ensuring that the right courses are funded appropriately.

This is a real issue that affects teens hoping to get a good job for the future and is much needed.

Senator Birmingham is a Minister kicking goals in the Turnbull Government. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is another. There are a few like Josh Frydenberg and Greg Hunt, who have new portfolios, who are on the right track, but for the rest, they seem to have reform malaise, happy just to roll out the same one-liners instead of good policy that will improve the lives of Australians.

It appears states are only as useless as the competence of the Commonwealth.

Renee Viellaris is The Courier-Mail’s national political editor.