If You Were the State Treasurer.......

I starting to get sick and tired of hearing how we have a balanced budget but on the other hand no money to do anything. No money for roads, water, hospitals, public transport etc.
This government is a popularist one and is loathe to make hard decisions. Obviously it is not politically expedient to raise income taxes and there are cries to reduce payroll tax, stamp duty, land tax and the like.
I think it's time the government started thinking of ways to serve the community and reap a financial return at the same time.
If you were the State Treasurer, what initiatives would you implement to improve the State's financial position?
For example:
invest in power generation?
introduce toll roads?
raise fines?
make housing trust tenants pay higher rents rather than getting very low rent for life?
Means test school fees and hospital admissions?
Get rid of Chauffeur driven cars?
Set up fuel distribution and/or retail fuel operations?
Introduce new/more lotteries?
Buy a quality horse or 10 at the Magic Millions?
I'm not suggesting I agree or disagree with any of the above but some lateral thinking should be happening and realistically, why shouldn't government go full cycle and get back into commercial operations to return dividends to the state instead of relying on taxes, GST payments and competition payments?
Over to you...
This government is a popularist one and is loathe to make hard decisions. Obviously it is not politically expedient to raise income taxes and there are cries to reduce payroll tax, stamp duty, land tax and the like.
I think it's time the government started thinking of ways to serve the community and reap a financial return at the same time.
If you were the State Treasurer, what initiatives would you implement to improve the State's financial position?
For example:
invest in power generation?
introduce toll roads?
raise fines?
make housing trust tenants pay higher rents rather than getting very low rent for life?
Means test school fees and hospital admissions?
Get rid of Chauffeur driven cars?
Set up fuel distribution and/or retail fuel operations?
Introduce new/more lotteries?
Buy a quality horse or 10 at the Magic Millions?
I'm not suggesting I agree or disagree with any of the above but some lateral thinking should be happening and realistically, why shouldn't government go full cycle and get back into commercial operations to return dividends to the state instead of relying on taxes, GST payments and competition payments?
Over to you...