JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
WORKING FAMILIES ARE GOING BACKWARDS
The Budget might be recovering because of commodity prices but Australians facing skyrocketing costs of living and falling real wages are still being left behind.
Today’s Deloitte Access Economics Budget Monitor confirms that welcome and expected improvements in the Budget are despite the Morrison Government, not because of the Morrison Government.
Deloitte has spelled out in detail how these improvements are largely a result of the commodity prices boom, rather than good economic management from Scott Morrison or Josh Frydenberg.
It speaks volumes that Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg take credit for this improvement but won’t take responsibility for a trillion dollars in debt or falling real wages.
The Liberals and Nationals have nothing to show for the record debt they’d already multiplied before the pandemic, or for their decade of deficits.
The economy and the Budget would be stronger if billions of dollars a week hadn’t been lost as a direct result of Scott Morrison’s rapid tests debacle, bungled vaccine rollout, and the lockdowns and shutdowns those failures caused.
Even with these unsurprising improvements, the Morrison Government’s Budget will still be weighed down by:
- At least a second decade of deficits; and
- Billions tucked away in election slush funds ready to be rorted all the way to the voting booths.
The Coalition is showing all the signs of yet another Budget full of secret slush funds before the election and secret cuts after it.
This Government’s ninth Budget will be just as long on politics and just as short on plans as the other eight.
Next week’s Budget won’t be about getting Australians through tough times or setting our country up for a better future, it’ll be all about getting the Liberals and Nationals through an election.
MONDAY, 21 MARCH 2022
