Ryan Bridge: The real message in the Government's updated fuel plan

The most interesting thing about the fuel ration plan has nothing to do with fuel rationing. 

Read the Q&A script the Minister's office provided and you quickly realise this thing will probably never see the light of day in any practical sense. 

Trump would probably need to drop a nuke for us to get there. 

And there's no prioritisation until 'Level 4'. It's all very high trust and that's probably for the best. 

But what the plan spells out, clear as day, are the most important industries, businesses, and government agencies in the country. The ones that actually matter. 

And top of the list, literally first in line for a 100% fuel allocation, are ambulances, Fire and Emergency, and Police. 

Tell me the last time these guys were given proper resources to do their jobs effectively?

Paramedics are now, according to the union, being asked to do cleaning. They're being told not to change the sheets on gurneys after every patient to save on laundry. 

They're not fully funded and must go cap-in-hand to keep themselves running. 

The firefighters spend as much time striking for adequate trucks to fight the fires as they do, well, fighting the fires. 

And as for Police, yesterday we learnt a third of resignations are due to officers being poached by the Aussies. 

Some of this stuff is funded by levies, some by taxes, and the rest is just not funded at all. 

This is not a cry for more taxes to find them, but rather a suggestion that anything not on the critical list is where you'd start cutting costs. 

What the Government has just done, wittingly or not, is tell us exactly what keeps this country running.

It's not a fuel rationing list. It's a blueprint for who is actually important in this country. Emergency services, food, freight, farming, airports, roads. We should be directing resources towards them and cutting red tape around them. 

That, surely, would be one way of getting the country 'back on track'. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The most interesting thing about the fuel ration plan has
actually nothing to do with fuel rationing. If you read
the Q and A the script from the Minister's office
provided and you quickly realize this thing will probably never
see the light of day in any practical sense. Trump
would need to drop a nuke for us to get there, essentially.
But what the plan spells out clear as day are

(00:20):
the most important industries, businesses, and government agencies in the country,
the ones that actually matter, top of the list, literally
first in line for a one hundred percent fuel allocation,
not that we'll get there. Ambulances, fire, an emergency and police.
Tell me the last time these guys were given proper
resources to do their jobs effectively. Paramedics are now, according

(00:43):
to the union, being asked to do cleaning. They're being
told not to change the sheets on gurneyes after every
patient to save on laundry. The union recons they're not
fully funded and they must often go cap in hand
to keep themselves running in a float. The firefighters spend
as much time I'm striking for adequate trucks to fight
the fires as they do while fighting the fires. And

(01:04):
as for police, yesterday we learned a third of resignations
a due to officers being poached by the Aussies for
better pay. Some of the stuff is funded by levies,
some by taxes. The rest is just well not funded
properly at all. This is not a cry for more
taxes to fund them, but rather a suggestion, a helpful suggestion,

(01:25):
dear listener, that anything not on the critical list is
where you would start cutting costs. What the government has
just done, wittingly or not, is tell us exactly what
keeps this country running. It's not a fuel rationing list
as much as a blueprint for who is actually important.
Emergency services, food to keep your bellies full, freight farming,

(01:48):
airport roads. We should be directing resources towards them and
cutting red tape around them. That surely would be one
of the smartest ways that we could get the country
back on track. For more Familier edition with Ryan Bridge,
listen live to Newstalk SETB from five am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.