Editorial: Missed dates beyond joke

There is an episode of the television comedy series Utopia in which the fictional Nation Building Authority is looking to prove that it is making progress on its big infrastructure projects. It would be funny if it didn’t ring so true...

THERE is an episode of the television comedy series Utopia in which the fictional Nation Building Authority is looking to prove that it is making progress on its big infrastructure projects.

Chief executive officer Tony Woodford is seen desperately pressuring his staff for some sort of announcement.

“There must be something we can push,” he says.

“Something to show that we’re under way or on the move. Have we finished anything? I mean not that we have to …”

It’s difficult to know whether to laugh or cry.

It would be funny if it didn’t ring so true.

In the real world, other than the tremendous announcement — and it is truly a good news story — that Tasmania will have a team in the NBL, this week has been a shocker for the State Government when it comes to delivering on infrastructure projects.

Sure, you can argue that the contract collapsing for two new Spirit of Tasmania vessels was a bit of bad luck. That the upgrade to the Royal Hobart Hospital wasn’t going to hit its end-of-February deadline was something anticipated by this publication in last weekend’s edition but it was disappointing all the same. To see two major infrastructure projects lag behind their planned completion dates will leave many Tasmanians asking questions of the government.

There’s another episode of Utopia in which the National Building Authority is informed it hasn’t spent its budget for Tasmania.

In between trying to use up travel, catering and professional development budget, the bureaucrats in this all-too-familiar satire have to figure out what Tasmanians need built.

“Check with the Hobart office,” government liaison officer Jim Gibson says.

“We don’t have a Hobart office,” Tony laments.

“Let’s set one up,” and enthusiastic Jim beams.

Three farcical town halls are conducted, a laminated study is distributed around the department and the public relations team decide — seemingly from nowhere — that what the people of Tasmania really need is a fancy new stadium.

“Tasmanians don’t need or want a huge new stadium,” Tony complains before threatening to quit.

“They don’t know what they want,” says public relations manager Rhonda.

Sound familiar?

More than a few photos have been taken of politicians in front of the old Bridgewater Bridge over the years and, as the centrepiece of the Hobart City Deal, the State Government has said it remains committed to a new $576 million bridge. That’s despite the mayors of three neighbouring councils casting doubt on the project and a business case that says the potential cost far outweighs the benefits.

Today the Mercury reveals that the Government has decided now to spend nearly $600,000 on a consultant who will try to make the project cheaper.

You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Unless of course you are the writer of that hilarious show Utopia, which seems to perfectly depict everything that is wrong with bureaucracy in Australia.