Don’t listen to bureaucrats! Funds may go elsewhere, Fraser warns

Opposition Leader Julian Fraser has encouraged Premier and Minister of Finance Dr Natalio Wheatley to avoid the advice of bureaucrats as he makes critical decisions concerning the distribution of funds in the budget.

“I’m urging the Minister of Finance to stop listening to the so-called bureaucrats who advise him — who don’t have an interest in his re-election — to do the right thing and put some money in the budget to fix the roads. That’s what I’m urging him to do,” Fraser said.

Fraser said money for infrastructural works should be placed in the budget on a per-district basis, since placing it in a lump sum may not serve its intended purpose.

“Any place you put it in a lump sum and leave it to the discretion of the bureaucrats, the poor ministers have very little influence as to how monies are spent nowadays,” he argued.

He further suggested that monies may be diverted to less important causes where bureaucrats have more influence, instead of areas where funds are actually needed.

“That’s where the money might end up going to that particular district, and it may not come down by my side,” Fraser argued. “So when you put the money in, make sure that it spells out [that] each district gets X amount of dollars.”

“So it’s whatever [amount] it is divided by nine [districts]. And I would hope that the Minister for Finance is hearing me and he understands that I’m speaking for him as well as speaking for myself,” Fraser stated.