Michael Pascoe writes:

John Howard’s LPG conversion giveaway is
coming unstuck even before he finishes stuffing it in the boot, with the NRMA
confirming our suspicion that conversion costs are jumping, Ford revealing that the market mechanism
was already working nicely and the federal Special Minister of State Gary Nairn
admitting it isn’t worth converting the government’s massive car fleet to the
cheaper fuel.

The best call can be found in the SMH‘s
letters page this morning. Several writers voice anger that tax payers are subsidising
people who made bad decisions on the type of car they bought in the first place,
that those who decide to walk or drive smaller fuel-efficient cars are
disadvantaged etc. That SMH readership is a seething mass of economic rationalists. First prize though
goes to Peter Kenny of Bexley who writes:

“If I don’t want a $2000 LPG subsidy for my
car, can I have a plasma-screen TV instead?”

That the real world was functioning without
John Howard’s dodgy attempt to be seen to be doing something is demonstrated by
Ford disclosing that 21 per cent of Falcons bought this year are its LPG model,
up from 11 per cent last year and 6 per cent the year before. And in the bigger picture, people have
already been voting with their wallets by not buying as many big petrol-swilling
tanks and switching to smaller, more fuel-efficient engines.

Thanks, John, for blowing a billion or more
on your political imperatives. Too bad most of the electorate will see through
this one.