I haven't yet read the government's announcement on the special levy and how and where the money collected are going to be applied.
I do hope though that it will go mainly towards the rebuilding of public infrastructure assets, such as roads, railway lines, bridges, etc, damaged by the floods, not just in Queensland, but in Victoria and NSW and WA, and these should be in the form of tied grants to the states, meaning that the grants are ear-marked for the infrastructure rebuilding, to stop the states from taking the money and use it for other purposes. Further more, I believe the states should be the main entity involved in this process, sourcing the bulk of the money required from their own internal sources, with some assistance from the Commonwealth. It should not the sole role of the Commonwealth to rebuild the flooded areas to what they were before, meaning the rest of Australia should not be the one providing the major source of finance.
Regarding people who no longer have a job to go back to, the social benefits, under the hardship criteria, are available the them.
I do not believe the current federal Labor government's effort has anything to do with "democratic socialism". I do believe though that it has erred on the generous side in helping out. I have this feeling a conservative government would have tried to do the same, using perhaps other financial measures but nevertheless the money will still be coming from the rest of Australia.
This is just a quick response to your post. Like I said in the beginning, it is a difficult issue.
