I’m more than tired of political parties of any stripe that are currently out of power consistently criticising governments about “cost overruns” in public infrastructure projects.

“We want the best use of taxpayers’ money.“

No, you don’t, guys. If you really did, you’d want to curb land price escalation, if not abolish land prices altogether by taxing them sufficiently, because it is land prices that are deflating the value of the currency with the incessant cost-push inflation that they generate.

Sure, we need to keep a careful eye on public expenditures but, if you’re fair dinkum about ‘cost overruns’ in getting things done, you need to be honest about the role that escalating land prices play in making everything dear and in devaluing the dollar, guys!