Isn’t the Best Start programme everything that’s wrong with public spending right now? 

This is the Prime Minister’s pet programme for giving money to parents of new-borns.

It was launched to stem child poverty, with a payment that is worth up to $3120 a year.  

We find out today that the government is giving that money to couples who frankly do not need it. They gave it to nearly 4500 couples earning over $200,000 a year and they gave it to 11,000 couples earning over $150,000 a year.

You’ll hear the usual stuff trotted out from defenders of this kind of spending.

Going through the process of income testing parents ends up costing more than just rolling it out to everyone.

If you don’t roll it out to everyone some people will slip through the cracks.

A good society funds its oldest and it’s youngest.

It’s only $35 million. 

That last excuse is what always bugs me - it’s always ONLY x number of million dollars.  

• Best Start: $35 million dollars went to families earning over six figures

Have you thought about this: We as taxpayers are subsidising nearly every aspect of a life.

We pay parents to have a child, then we subsidise the child going to school, we subside the child’s doctor’s visits, we subsidise the dentist visit, we subsidise university – almost completely – we subsidise the child after their OE coming home through MIQ with a free hotel room, we subside them buying their first home, we subsides them buying an electric vehicle and then we subsidise them having a baby so we start the thing all over again while they grow old and we start subsidising their winter electricity bills 

Some of that stuff is entirely justified – doctor’s visits for example, the pension, schooling – but it’s got completely out of hand if we are subsidise nearly aspect of a life 

And you know what the outcome of all this is? Anyone missing out gets so frustrated at the thought that wealthy couples are getting taxpayer money as gifts for having a baby.

That come next election we all line up to see what they’ll give us to even the ledger and make us feel less ripped off, thus perpetuating the cycle all over again.

Meantime, so much of our taxpayer money is going into subsidising normal life stuff that we don’’ have enough to pay nurses properly.

I’m frustrated by this. Frankly, I’d rather they found a way NOT to give thousands of dollars of new baby money to parents who don’t need it rather than making excuses for why they should.