Governments never cease to amaze us by the amount of taxpayer money they waste on various cultural projects. Last week we brought you the story about how our governments are helping to fund an Islamic Museum, this week we have come across another great waste of taxpayers’ money. I’m sure we will come across more in the weeks to come.

This week Australia’s most regressive Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria was in the rural city of Bendigo for a series of funding announcements with the two state Labor members for Bendigo. But easily the most bizarre funding announcement was that the Andrews’ Government would be providing $250,000 for a new Chinese dragon to replace the existing one which participates in Bendigo’s annual Easter festival.

The total cost of this new dragon will be $750,000 with funds being contributed the City of Greater Bendigo as well as private benefactors. One might ask the question, how can a simple Chinese dragon cost so much? What is it made out of?

Daniel Andrews was proud to announce the government’s contribution to the project, he believed that the new dragon was vital to tourism to the region Dai Gum Loong will attract visitors, boost local jobs and ensure the Chinese community’s proud history in Bendigo lives on”. I’m sure that’s the first thing tourists think of when they go to Bendigo, they want to see a Chinese dragon. It should be noted this dragon only makes an appearance once a year.

Victorian residents should rightly question why funding is going to this Chinese dragon instead of going to fund essential services and future infrastructure. With the crime wave currently hitting Victoria, many Victorians would prefer this money spent on extra police resources.

Why do governments feel the need to contribute to cultural projects such as this? If a Chinese dragon cannot be funded through private means then I guess that means that the people of Bendigo and Victoria don’t value the dragon as highly as our government does. The mainstream media never questions the wisdom of this funding, they were more interested in the fact the dragon would be the longest in the world.

If our governments stopped giving out hundreds of thousands of dollars all the time for these type of projects, they would have ample funds to focus on the core business of governments. Maybe they could even give some of that money back to the hardworking taxpayers in the form of tax cuts?

Both sides of politics are guilty of funding these types of projects. Politicians love funding them because it makes them feel they are culturally enriching Australia. It’s up to us taxpayers to let all governments know that we are fed up with them dishing out our money for these vanity projects.

Author Details
Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.
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Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.