Sunday, February 06, 2005
REWARDING THE UNREADABLE
The Sunday Telegraph’s Sandra Lee reports:
The State Government is gearing up to celebrate 150 years of responsible government in 2006 by shelling out almost $2 million in grants for a string of back-slapping congratulatory books on the politics, politicians and those who cover them.
In 2002 Premier Bob Carr set up a bipartisan trust charged with dishing out money to a series of authors commissioned to produce riveting titles including A History of Politics of the 1850s ($50,000 grant) and the Book on Premiers of NSW 1856 to 2005 ($60,000).
Other projects included $27,500 to a political journalist to write The History of the NSW Press Gallery (potential readership, 25), and another on the sporting prowess of politicians throughout the years. Seriously!
That journalist is the Sun-Herald’s state political editor Alex Mitchell. Among other grants, we find:
* History of New South Wales Elections in the Nineteenth Century ($45,000)
* Study of NSW Parliament’s Public Works Committee 1888–1932 ($12,110)
* A History of Labor and Representation in Glebe since 1891 ($25,000)
* History of the Franchise and Electoral Laws in New South Wales ($43,339)
* History of the Housing Commission of NSW ($40,000, plus another $40,000 from the Department of Housing)
* NSW Minor Parties and Independents Since the Formation of the Party System ($33,925)
And my favourite:
* The Coming of Responsible Government 1843–1858 ($15,262)