Jim PenmanCEO, Jim's Group · CEO and Founder of Australia's largest franchise, Jim's Group

Government Costs: $70K Per Household Yearly!

11 Feb 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:04

In this YouTube dialogue, the speakers discuss the hidden financial burden that government actions impose on typical Australian households. They argue that while public discourse focuses on the high cost of living, the far larger expense is the cost of government. Citing a recent newspaper article, they estimate that government-related costs amount to roughly $70,000 per household each year. The breakdown includes about $6,000 per household for servicing national debt, $16,000 per household for a proposed rail loop that few will use, and around $5,000 per household for net‑zero climate policies. They also claim zoning violations inflate housing prices by about half a million dollars, adding to the overall cost. The speakers suggest that if households were presented with these figures, 98 % would prefer to keep the money in their pockets rather than fund such government projects. The conversation frames these points within a libertarian critique, emphasizing the need for citizens to recognize and question the scale of government spending.

Chapters

And in fact, there was a newspaper article recently where you were talking about the cost of government. And something that, you know, the Libertarian Party talks a lot about as well is like everyone talks about, you know, the cost of living is really high. And cost of living. Not many people talk about the cost of government, which for many, for most people, I think it's actually the biggest cost is paying for all the things that the government does.
I think the first thing we knew is let people understand that when you have a bloated, inefficient government, it costs them. What we're looking at is what it actually costs typical Australian households on, including the cost extra cost of rent or of buying a house, which costs, let's say, a half million dollars more than it should because of zoning violations. We're talking about something close to $70,000 per household per year. And if you ask people, if you show them this $70,000 per year that you're spending, would you rather the government continue to do what it's doing now with their blur? Would you rather have this money in your pocket? How much difference would it make? We've got to show people that when you have government debt, for example, we're spending currently $6,000 per annum per household servicing government debt, how much difference would an extra $6,000 make to an average household? We talk, in that case, something like $16,000 per household per year for this rail loop that very few people will actually use. Even if you ask the people who are going to use this and say, would you rather have this rail loop? Would you rather have $16,000 extra cash in your pocket? And I've talked about, after tax, real money that you can spend 320 bucks a week. Would you rather have that? I would guarantee you that 98% of them said, I'd rather have the money. And you've got to put this in perspective. So why are we spending $16,000 per household per year on something like that? That's equivalent to a cost of $5000 per household per year. I mean, we're talking $5000 per household per year to achieve net zero.