<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/27/from-doge-to-smoge-peter-duttons-coalition-is-an-eerie-echo-of-trump-and-musks-america-ntwnfb>
"On 22 January, Gina Rinehart said: “If we are sensible, we should set up a
Doge [Department of Government Efficiency] immediately, reduce government
waste, government tape and regulations.”
Mere days later, on 25 January, Peter Dutton appointed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
as the shadow minister for government efficiency (Smoge?), describing her new
job as to cut “wasteful spending”.
Correlation isn’t causation, but the political and narrative threads connecting
Dutton’s Coalition opposition to Donald Trump’s American presidency and his
mega-billionaire offsider Elon Musk grow more numerous by the day.
Leading up to a cost-of-living election, the change makes sense; after Price
helped defeat Labor’s referendum on an Indigenous voice, the new role puts a
strong media performer in the spotlight.
The links only grew when Dutton pointed a finger at, as his first example of
“wasteful spending that is out of control”, the “36,000 additional Canberra
public servants employed under this government”.
The public service workforce, and plans to “restructure federal agencies”, are
a key part of Doge’s remit.
Dutton on Sunday said the proposed government efficiency role was to “identify
where taxpayers’ money is being wasted” but he did not deny the title had been
inspired by Musk and Trump."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
