Garnaut report printed on "expensive Italian paper"

One rule for the governing elite, and one for the poor general public, that's the situation under Rudd's government. Whilst most of us are being told to tighten our belts and get used to paying more for our electricity and gas under Rudd & Wong's barking ETS, Ross Garnaut has been spending taxpayers' money like water.

Anyone with half a brain would have thought that Australian paper would be perfectly adequate for printing copies of Garnaut's tedious tome. But no, Aussie paper just ain't good enough, so Penny Wong's department specially imported $18,000 worth of Italian paper, adding even more to the Garnaut Report's already huge carbon footprint:

When asked how many "carbon miles" were used to bring the paper into Australia, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said it had not been calculated or offset.

Tasmanian Liberal Party Senator Eric Abetz asked some awkward questions about how much money the Environment department was throwing at Garnaut. The answers are interesting:

• Italian paper: $18k
• Travel and accommodation expenses: $14k
• Staffing resources: $200k
• Printing costs for Garnaut report: $70k
• Mobile phone (35% of total): $1.5k

Furthermore:

A Question on Notice by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Nick Minchin of the Liberal Party, revealed that about 64 staff have been employed to disseminate the Government's spin.

The Government is finding it needs that many spin doctors to sell the lie of "global warming"...

Read it here.