Ghost jobs

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By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

Ghost jobs - As Farmers, our costs have risen over the years. Things like rates, insurance, taxes, electricity, etc, have all gone up by multiples. In this pass-the-cost-on era we are in, almost everyone but the Farmer can absorb their own cost increases by passing some or all of those costs on.

As commodity producers, the Farmer can't do that. John Deere can, but at the risk of making their Machinery too expensive for some. You Shire or Council can; they just jack up the rates. The government can; they just tax us more. But it got me thinking: why has the cost of running a council or shire increased? I put it down to an increase in the human cost; basically, they are putting on more and more people and creating these ghost-like roles that actually bring no revenue to the table.

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Look at the government, in the last 2 years, something like 70 per cent of the new jobs created in Australia have been government jobs. Once again, many of them are ghost roles that don't make the government any money. They just add cost. Who's got to pay for that, the taxpayer? What with? Increased taxes.

Have we developed a nation of clever ghost workers who spend their time working out ways to look busy but contribute diddly squat to the bottom line? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

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