Someone asked for my views on what changes I would do, if I were the Prime Minister. Without the benefit of a $1.5 million salary (hope this is the right figure), I will review the following:
- Reduce the minister salary to an average of $500,000
- Health care: adopt a single payer system of South Korea and Canada, to replace the wasteful and fragmented system now used in Singapore.
- Public housing: Reduce the price to an affordable level, say 3 to 4 years of the average family income
- Public transport: take over the planning and fares, but outsource the operations to private operators for an agreed fee, i.e follow the London model
- Wages: Introduce a minimum wage, likely to be at least $8 an hour.
- Taxation: get rid of the wasteful GST and replace it with a payroll tax (with suitable relieve for low income workers); other aspects of tax will also be reviewed.
- Waste: Remove wasteful government processes that add to the cost and burden (there are plenty of them)
- Financial Sector: regulate the sector to give a fair deal to consumers for their savings.
- Attitude: create awareness that government leaders and civil servants have to serve the people, and are not the "masters:
I am confident that all of these measures can be done effectively, although they will not be easy. Some mistakes will be made along the way, and will need to be corrected.
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