I can see nothing wrong with the Government paying for ads to tell the electorate what they are doing. It would be preferable not to have to spend the money, but it isn't an election year and given the following, what's the alternative?
We have a media who fail to tell the truth and appear to have a campaign to deliberately muddy the waters. We have an opposition who have lied about the impact of the proposal, and who have stuck their heads in the sand for years with regards to our inability to keep funding from the public purse. We have people like Senator Lazarus, who won't even meet with the Education Minister to discuss the proposal including amendments!!! And, we have an overwhelming plea from the university sector to support the proposal because without the necessary change they are in deep trouble.
The Government has a responsibility to inform. They haven't been able to get their message across because of the above. We have opposition parties who just block regardless and we now have a stalemate. Something had to give to get common sense back on the table and if advertising is the best option, go for it I say. As for the naysayers in the media, opposition and independent groups, if you had done your job, rather than politicking, lying and obstructing the Government wouldn't be forced into going down the advertising path. So if you want to blame anyone for the money being spent on this activity blame yourselves.
