Excessive $$ Spent on Advertising- September 18th

The millions of dollars the government spends on advertising each year has been the topic of widespread criticism and on-going debate- and question time today was no exception. Senator McEwan bought it up, posing the question to Senator Minchin- the Minister representing John Howard.
He questioned the senator as to the amount the Howard Government has spent on advertising since the last election, and how much more it will spend before the next. Research into the question is apparent when the senator questions exact figures and compares them to those spent on more pressing and detrimental issues such as mental health and regional health services.
Minchin responds by pointing out these “are rather tired old arguments” from the labor party expressing lethargy towards answering. He then attempts to justify the amount spent on advertising.
Ok…so I agree, “governments of all persuasions naturally and legitimately are able to advertise government programs and policies.” But isn’t a total of 800 million dollars just a little excessive?? Especially in light of the fact that this amount is 5 times more than what the government will spend on mental health, and more than 6 times the amount they will spend on rural health services!!
Reading through the transcript of question time only reinforced my opinion that it is a time for self-promotion and to have a good dig at the opposition. Comments such as the following from Minchin back up this view;
…”it is our job to let them know of all the good things we are doing for them- of all the jobs we are creating.”

The “us” Vs “them” mentality was ripe throughout the whole discussion- or should I say argument? Four times within the space of approx. 6 minutes the president had to demand the senate to order after continued interjections by the opposition.
Senator Minchin goes on to describe the behaviour of the state premier leaders as “shameless”, then makes personal attacks on Mr Beattie, Mr Rann and Mr Bracks- describing them “poncing around on screen telling people what great guys they are.”
In an attempt to make the liberal party look bad before the coming election, McEwan quoted Howard from 1995- Over 12 years ago!
When asked “Why should tax payers have to spend half a billion dollars of their money on the Prime Minister’s ‘election life raft?’ The Ministers response was no more than a dig at the state government- “they are not doing anything anyway. What have they got to advertise? They do absolutely nothing except fail completely to supply their citizens public transport.” What the?
At this point, after reading over his response several times- I actually got a laugh out of it. Question time has proved more entertaining then I initially expected! Minchin didn’t even attempt to answer the question- rather he took the opportunity to nail the opposition!
I came away from the experience with more of an understanding as to the empathy many Australians express towards parliament and their processes. I found it no more than a petty and immature display of our nations leaders. What exactly was resolved? I can’t be sure.