SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 


MORRISON GOVERNMENT ON TRACK TO DELIVER THE BIGGEST DEBT AND DEFICIT ON RECORD

Just four months into the financial year the October numbers show the Budget is on track to report a record deficit in excess of $200 billion for 2021-22 with almost half a trillion dollars of cumulative deficits over the forward estimates.
 
Net debt has already exceeded $600 billion, well on the way to reaching the budget forecast of $700 billion.
 
These numbers should act as a warning to the Morrison Government that they must act with greater urgency and put in place sensible measures to respond to the recession and the jobs crisis or the budget will continue to deteriorate.
 
Under the Government’s current approach, unemployment will remain too high for too long and too many people will be left behind.
 
There are almost one million Australians already unemployed and another 160,000 expected to join them by the end of the year, 1.4 million Australians are underemployed and 1.6 million Australians are surviving on unemployment payments.
 
The Budget is structurally weakened after seven years of the Coalition Government and more recently by the COVID -19 pandemic. 

It’s clear that the budget won’t be fixed unless the Morrison Government fixes the jobs crisis. 
  
FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2020