Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Australian state pulls plug on 2026 Commonwealth Games | DW News" video.

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  2. Another Victorian here. I think what we are going to find out is how much price gouging was going on. As I just said in another comment I'm an engineer and we have a horrendous epidemic of government project gouging at the moment. Its been there for a while in both government and in the corporate sector, but its now totally out of control. Other than many of the infrastructure projects the Navy's submarine and ship programs are totally out of control. I've spoken to some other engineers about some of this because we've seen a fair amount of this sort of price gouging during the mining boom and some of that was pretty bad, but this stuff is totally out of control. Here's a simple example. The Navies new Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels are $300 million each and that's more than 10x what the Armidale-class boats they are replacing cost. You'd expect some increases due to inflation and that they are bigger, but 10x the cost is ridiculous. Also the new frigates are more than 3x the cost the British are paying for the same ship. There's no explanation other than we are being ripped off. I strong suspect we'll find out that these issues with external consultants has a lot to do with it. What most people don't realise is that these consultants are NOT there to provide solutions. Their obligation is to their employer and their employer's profit. I think Dan Andrews has simply said "We've had ENOUGH and are not going to be ripped off any more." I absolutely support that thought. I have seen lots of people get kicked off projects for the simple fact they got the job done or wanted to get it done instead of joining in the gouging.
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