Trump and Elon have their DOGE. Here’s why we need a DINGO to slash Australia’s bureaucracy

With our living standards plummeting perhaps it’s time we had our own system similar to DOGE, the agency now being run by Elon Musk, writes James Morrow.

One of Donald Trump’s first moves after winning re-election was to put Elon Musk in charge of finding ways to cut waste and fat from the American government’s US$6.75 trillion budget.

A big task, but Musk being Musk, he’s already having fun with his new job running what he is calling the Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk’s abbreviation, DOGE, is a shout-out to a cryptocurrency and an internet meme.

The coming department (technically it’s more of an off the books initiative) even has its own logo in the form of a bright eyed cartoon pup ready to shred government waste like a soft squeaky toy.

It’s a big task but if Musk manages to make a dent in government waste it will be great for America, whose economy will one day be in real strife if it can’t start paying down its US$28 trillion – that’s not a typo – debt balance.

President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who will head the US Department of Government Efficiency. Picture: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

But with more than 26 per cent of our own economy now being run through the federal government, our living standards plummeting, and Canberra now crowding out the private sector to levels not seen since before Keating, perhaps it’s time we had our own DOGE.

We could even give it an Australian twist.

Let’s call it DINGO: The Department of Innovation Negating Government Overreach, and it would be in charge of sniffing out waste, bloat and inefficiency.

Big federal departments would obviously be where DINGO would find the most treats.

Just as in the US, our federal Department of Education appears to be massive budgetary sinkhole devoted to shuffling money and reporting on itself. Its annual report is a train wreck of educrat jargon devoted to obscuring the truth about Australia’s lousy classroom performance and discipline.

Elon Musk recently tweeted this as a potential logo for his Department of Government Efficiency.

Why not let the existing federal Finance department dole out money to the states and territories for schools?

And then, instead of developing a highly political and indecipherable local curriculum, we could save time and get better results by using off the shelf products from successful multicultural nations like Singapore – particularly for maths and science.

DINGO could also have a serious sniff around everything related to climate change.

Chris Bowen’s climate change ministry which seems opposed to good outcomes in everything from energy (no, renewables are not cheaper) to the Australian environment (blanketing the country with wind and solar is actually pretty horrible to the environment we claim to want to preserve) would be the obvious place to start.

The ABC, which has disgraced itself more times in the past year (fake gunshots, anyone?) than this column has space for, would be another great target on which to sic DINGO.

If the ABC’s bosses really think Radio National’s six and a half listeners are so important, let Bluey subsidise their morning listen – not the taxpayer.

Plenty of bodies that exist to make bureaucrats feel good and the rest of us feel awful should also be in DINGO’s sights.

Would anyone miss the Australian Human Rights Commission, which seems devoted to explaining to one of the least racist nations on earth just how racist it is?

Climate Minister Chris Bowen, seen here at the APAC Hydrogen Summit in Brisbane, could be the target of a waste-cutting DINGO. Picture: NewsWire/ John Gass

Anything practical it claims to do around juvenile justice or aged care power of attorneys can easily be folded into attorneys-general or treasury offices. Anything else it does around importing American critical race theory fads should go in the bin.

Here DINGO could also issue government wide mandates, putting a stop to so-called “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” departments that are being abandoned around the world for setting back social cohesion and throwing sand into the gears of otherwise functioning organisations.

And why do we need an Australia Day Council to help us celebrate Australia Day? You don’t need a government body in the US to tell people to celebrate the 4th of July.

Niche sporting bodies, bread and circuses spends on stadiums for already wealthy codes, and arts grants could also go.

This wouldn’t mean a nation of philistines, either: Just change the tax code to allow wealthy Australians more benefits for endowing museums and orchestras while forcing Newtown performance artists to get a job.

If the US can have DOGE, why can't Australia have the Deapartment of Innovation Negating Government Overreach, or DINGO? (Image: ChatGPT)

The benefits of a DINGO are obvious in a country like ours where one in ten of us is tied up working for the government.

That’s a lot of talented people doing stuff that’s often not of much use and in fact frequently gets in the way of productivity.

As former Treasurer Peter Costello recently said at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, “big government will lead to small citizens”.

Meanwhile Argentina, which like Australia was once a rich resource exporting nation that went to seed because it politicised its economy, recently went on a budget cutting spree under Javier Milei and is now tipped for 8.5 per cent GDP growth.

That’s a lot of treats, and not just for the DINGO.