Where does Lara start … try at the top

I would rather have 10 extra Parliamentarians and a better democracy, than maintain a privileged family and 22 plus staff at Government House.

But if the choice is adding to the burden of the poor, then I know where I would start this economic revolution.

The idea of a Governor living like a Prince in a Palace is very much a 19th Century paradigm.

The need to maintain a State house for him to entertain visiting ambassadors is so ridiculous an expense for this State to bear that we should be revolting.

We are not an international power; we do not maintain diplomatic corps; what is going on here that we allow an already privileged citizen to live off the State’s coffers? We pay for the servants to feed the Governor’s family breakfast …

Are we mad?

Clearly any supposed economic benefit, like increased trade, is already reflected in the State’s poor economic figures. My guess is that this tactic of entertainment of other government’s big wigs, has failed to produce anything of equal value to the expense incurred.

Is it necessary or is it all in need of overhaul, to suit our 21st Century needs?

One other State in Australia has a part time Governor, who lives in their own housing and of course they are supplied with a secretary and offices. Only God and the Governor would know why the Governor of Tasmania can’t use the local limousine services or private security guards or entertain at the Grand Chancellor and thus have no need to maintain underutilized kitchen staff. I have employed former Government House chefs in private enterprise. Universally they cited boredom and the peccadilloes of the incumbent Governors as reasons they left the State employment.

If Lara is going to use ‘every tool in the tool box’, then why not start at the top Lara and make all these budget cuts worthwhile and obvious?

This would show leadership, not lip service to compromised cost cutting. Every other organization would realize the serious intent of cutting the excess out of the beaurocracy and trimming the State to efficiently take on the services it has to provide in the 21st Century.

I am sure some of you will stop in your tracks and say, but what about the ‘House’? Then sell it, give it to TMAG, turn it into a B&B, rent it out, let the Public in for a daily price to see some magnificent furniture and give the grounds to the Botanical gardens; my favourite is turn it into a backpackers, the most beautiful in the world.

Some bureaucrat can move in with their staff, but at least let’s make Government House function profitably for the people who own it, us. The time is long past when we needed a State House for entertainment; this is a leftover from a time when the only banquet hall that existed was the Governor’s and the only trained staff was indentured at the Governor’s pleasure.

While we are at it; do we actually need a Governor who is anything more than someone who can administer the Constitution when properly advised and occasionally needed? Is there a problem with the Governor being a practising Professor of Law or just having another job, why can’t it be combined with the Chief Justice’s duties? The Governor’s raison d’etre is a position of integrity and constitutional comprehension and there are plenty of people in Tasmania who can operate at that level without a multi million dollar budget. Even a committee could do this job.

What is with the need for uniforms and medals and other people standing at attention? Every time I see the Governor out on the job, he is attended by a senior policeman dressed in full formal uniform, both look like South American dictators.

The Police claim they are under-resourced; what are their priorities?

Can’t the Governor get by with private security, just like the Courts? The Police General I see following the Governor around is also accompanied by a military officer and neither he nor the Policeman look fit enough to run 50 metres.

So what is their point?

Extra privilege on the gravy train, sunset jobs with an added bonus of dressing up?

All this was quite clearly emphasized, when Richard Butler wandered the cellars of Government House? We don’t need people foisted upon us who are past their use by date, and we don’t need this ridiculous expense for the State to function properly.

The Governor for the sake of the functioning practical State needs to be contained to a better job description without the very unnecessary elitism. For those who insist that a Governor needs to be a special person with special skills, please refer to the Provincial Canadian websites of their Lieutenant-Governors and you will find journalists, business people, trade unionists, indigenous activists all heading functioning provincial states, without anymore crisis than occurs here.

This is not a statement about the Republic or Monarchy; it’s about value for money, efficiencies and modernising our democracy.

This is where do we start to trim our Government expenses and the very best place to start is with those at the top, not those at the bottom. If the first choice is to cut unnecessary services then I just cannot believe that we should be raising the rent on Housing department tenants or limiting the services to the disabled or increasing hospital queues, there is enough fat around to inconvenience the very few, not those who are needy.

Greg James is an entrepreneur, “always have been, always will be. I went to my first Ban the Bomb demonstration in London in 1959 at the age of 4 on my father’s shoulders. Expelled from schools for organising anti-Vietnam war moratoriums and student newspapers, I’ve worked for the last 25 years in private enterprise, sometimes successfully and sometimes so hard that I missed life. Now I revel in my freedom, waging war against gaming, idiot politicians, and lack of imagination, prejudice and hypocricy while supporting those worth supporting.”