The worst of wasteful government spending

4. Expensive Electricity: Australia is systematically destroying itselectricity system by replacing cheap and reliable coal-based generators with intermittent wind and solar power. The additional costs to industry and consumers will impact for decades, even if common sense eventually prevails.

Australia now has electricity costs up to double those of the US and Canada, and our power prices have increased by more than 60 per cent in the ten years to 2017. Huge subsidies for renewables (aimed at "saving the planet"), and a failure of regulation (to control excessive spending on "poles and wires" and gouging by energy retailers) are the main causes. In aggregate, the subsidies paid to producers of renewable electricity were estimated at about $3 billion in 2015-16 or tens of billions to date.

Coal and nuclear are the two cheapest sources of base load power but (in terms of new electricity plants) the Turnbull Government and most of the States won't contemplate either. This is despite a recent acceleration in carbon emissions by the rest of the world, indicating that efforts to reduce "greenhouse" emissions won't work.

In 2017 global emissions grew by around 2 per cent. (China currently has 220 coal-fired power stations under construction and a further 266 planned. India has 77 coal-fired electricity stations under construction and a further 116 planned, while the US has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement.) Australia's shunning of coal-fired energy in the face of this seems futile, and would be equivalent to Saudi Arabia banning the domestic use of its oil.

5. National Broadband Network (NBN): The NBN,which to date (in pared back form) has cost at least $50 billion, was simply a huge high-risk mistake, and no private company would ever have built it. In essence the (Rudd) Government ignored prospective improvements in wireless technology and continuing moves away from landlines. (To date over a third of consumers have ditched their landlines.) It is widely believed that the NBN will face stiff competition from 5G mobile technology, and is likely to be eventually sold at a huge loss. A mere $10 billion valuationis typically quoted for an anticipated eventual government exit.

6. Ill-Considered Education Spending: Annual educational expenditure of around $33 billion makes this the third biggest area of Commonwealth outlays. The States spend nearly double this again. In past decades big increases in school funding were spent on reducing class sizes.

The Coalition's Gonski 2 is set to see Commonwealth funding for schools almost double from $17.5 billion to $30.6 billion by 2027. The issue is that there is little correlation between either class sizes or amounts invested in education, and improved educational outcomes. The original Gonski was simply an expensive way of addressing a dispute over funding allocations. Rudd and Gillard's $16 billion "Education Revolution", which led to spending on school buildings on a rushed and unprecedented scale, was another big waste.

In the vocational sector, VET Fee-HELP cost taxpayers $7.5 billion between 2009 and 2016, most of which went to private colleges. The scheme was subject to considerable fraud, based on targeting of potential students, who often had little hope of completing their course or repaying their loans.

University funding and enrolments have soared in recent decades, only levelling out recently. Arguably the move to a demand-driven system associated with higher university participation rates was a costly mistake, because it lowered standards and attracted students of questionable academic ability. It is also clear that the employment and salary prospects of new graduates have deteriorated significantly in the context of the surge of new graduates.

Finally, much of our regularly-hyped international student industry has only a limited education purpose. It is often more about foreign students gaming our immigration system, with considerable revenues (in many cases) representing de-facto bribes for back-door permanent residency or working visas.

7. National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS is not an insurance scheme. It is merely a spendathon (driven by a surge in young people participating, and in spending on equipment and carers). It was never properly planned or funded. Because of the transfer of much governance from the States to the Commonwealth, the scheme has also involved administrative upheaval.

The NDIS was a valedictory promise by PM Gillard, intended to secure her legacy as a social reformer. Cost/funding was an unimportant consideration at the time. Unfortunately the then Abbott-led opposition did not have the political courage to oppose it (as unaffordable), and the Coalition committed to the NDIS at the 2013 election.