$2 Billion On Telling Ourselves How Great Howard Is

The Howard Government has nearly reached the $2 billion mark in spending on taxpayer funded propaganda:

PRIME Minister John Howard has spent nearly $2 billion on government advertising and information campaigns since coming to power 11 years ago.

A Sunday Age investigation has found that just weeks from calling an election, the Government has 18 advertising campaigns on the air, with a $23 million climate change campaign to air after this week's APEC conference.

The Sunday Age investigation has also shown that since the last election in 2004, Mr Howard has spent a record $850 million of taxpayers' money on government advertising. The Government disputes this figure. "It's probably closer to $400 million," said Peter Phelps, chief of staff to Special Minister of State Gary Nairn.

Spending this year is expected to peak at $200 million before Mr Howard calls the election.'

But don't you feel better for it? Doesn't it reassure you that we have the greatest government in the world? And surely if they feel like telling us this with our own money then who are we to argue, right?

Even though Howard railed against such abuses of taxpayer funding in 95:

In 1995, Mr Howard promised that if elected he would instruct the Commonwealth Auditor-General to draw up guidelines on appropriate use of taxpayers' money for advertising. "There is clearly a massive difference between necessary government information for the community and blatant government electoral propaganda," Mr Howard said at the time. "Propaganda should be paid for by political parties."

Here, here!!!

And conservatives still act so outraged at suggestions that Howard is somehow dishonest.