Would you give $22 billion dollars to this man?

As a stimulus measure, the $22 billion in projects probably makes more sense than some of the frivolous cash giveaways we saw in the initial Krazy Kev cash giveaway stimulus phase.

Instead of $900 cheques being sent to the dead, to prisoners, to ex-pats, not to mention the odd multi-millionaire, this money is earmarked for targeted community projects which, if delivered, will benefit people everywhere.

The key passage in that previous sentence is if delivered.

The term Kevin Rudd has been using for this infrastructure phase of his stimulus plan is shovel-ready. This means that he’s injecting funds into projects and initiatives where the first sod is about to be turned.

But a quick gander at the budget papers suggest that some of the projects are a very, very long way from seeing any shovel action. The bigger projects appear to be more consultant-ready than shovel-ready.

From Wayne Swan’s budget speech we hear of exciting plans for $20 million for a detailed planning study into potential new corridors in Brisbane and $91 million for detailed design work of the Sydney West Metro.

Detailed planning and design doesn’t mean the people of Brisbane will be scooting along a zippy new highway or the people of Sydney will be catching a train from Rozelle to Rhodes.

Wearing my Sydney hat, I just don’t see how these projects are going to get off the ground. The problem is that the feds will be reliant on the states to deliver on these projects and you wouldn’t trust the Rees Government to deliver a pizza.

It doesn’t augur well that, on the actual day of the Budget, Kevin Rudd was fending off valid questions as to whether his casual call for a SOCOG-style NSW infrastructure authority was a slight on Nathan Rees.

It was a massive slight. Until a few years ago, the shorthand term for the NSW infrastructure authority was the NSW Government.

If even the Prime Minister has such low regard for the political leadership of the Premier State, the rest of us are entitled to say: Nice idea Kev, we’ll believe it when we see it.

In addition, the danger of cost over-runs means that many voters will be wary of the impact this $22 billion outlay will have on the deficit.

We are already $58 billion in the red. Rudd and Swan will have their work cut out ensuring that governments which have struggled to deliver on time and on budget do not end up dragging his bottom line further south.

Rudd and Swan say that this budget is about putting the nation back on the road to surplus. Neither of them are Sydney boys. And no-one in Sydney would be surprised if their road to surplus plunged into a ravine somewhere between Rozelle and Rhodes, as whoever the state transport minister currently is scratched his head in confusion at yet another failed infrastructure project.