Once upon a time in Erehwon, a prosperous but isolated town, there was a small hospital. The town council, which was responsible for the funding and management of the hospital, refused to fund its expansion. Two factions vied with one another to control the Council, with an election due the following year.
The roads surrounding Erehwon, which was visited by many tourists, were narrow and dangerous. There were many accidents, and ambulances constantly came to the hospital bringing the injured. People from outlying settlements without their own hospital also came there. As a result local patients who had booked appointments at the hospital were often obliged to wait to see the doctor because he was attending more urgent cases.
Among the townspeople there was considerable irritation at this inconvenience. This was noted by focus groups conducted by both factions seeking to control the Council. They put the blame on those who had come without appointments, and flayed one another for pandering to them.
The ruling faction cast around for a solution that would solve the problem without damaging Erhewhon's chances of winning the coveted Ethically Tidy Town Award. They came up with the idea of a No Advantage policy. All around the town they placed posters emblazoned with the No Advantage logo and headed: A Fair Go for All.
Under this policy, no one who arrived at the hospital without an appointment would receive any advantage from having come unannounced. Emergency patients would henceforth be called Intruders or Malingerers.
To ensure that no advantage flowed to them, they would be escorted from the hospital premises and ranged along the footpath under the open sky. The elderly, babies and those suffering from unusually serious accident would be permitted to sit on the nature strip.
After the hospital medical staff had seen all those with appointments, they would tend to as many of the Malingerers as could be seen in office hours. This would ensure the latter enjoyed no advantage.
To the ruling faction the policy promised to be fair and effective, though their opponents criticised it as too mild. So it was implemented. The whole town was satisfied that the queue along the footpath and the pathetic scenes on the nature strip would be a firm signal to potential Malingerers that they would have no advantage.
But, alas, cars crashed, families came down with botulism, children broke legs playing, visiting bikies were glassed by locals, grey nomads were bitten