NO BUDGET EXCUSES LEFT FOR LIBERALS

Another new report has confirmed that the Liberals are completely out of excuses for the mess they’ve made of the Budget, including the record and growing debt on their watch.

Deloitte Access Economics in its latest Budget Monitor has spruiked the positive global economic conditions that will form the backdrop for the Liberals’ make-or-break Budget next week.

 

Deloitte says “the rivers of gold are running again, with the global and Australian economies doing the Budget plenty of favours” and points to the fact there’s been a “humongous improvement in the Budget in recent months”.

 

Even with very favourable global conditions doing wonders for the nation’s finances, the Budget will still be in a far worse condition than when the Liberals took office.

 

The deficit for this year is currently eight times bigger than projected in the Liberals’ first Budget in 2014, net debt has doubled, and gross debt has crashed through half-a-trillion dollars for the first time ever and is growing with no peak in sight.

 

Malcolm Turnbull’s $65 billion tax handout for big business, including $13.2 billion for the big banks, will only make things worse.

 

It’s time the Liberals put in place a more robust plan to pay down their record and growing debt with stronger surpluses over the medium term.

 

And completely contradicting the Government’s misleading mantra of lower taxes, Deloitte confirms the limited Budget repair that has occurred is largely due to “higher taxes”. 

 

If Turnbull was serious about fixing the Budget in a fair way, he’d drop his cuts to schools and hospitals, give up on his cruel zombie cuts that are unlikely to pass Parliament, and ditch his $65 billion tax giveaway.

 

The Liberals’ obsession with showering largesse on the top end of town is hurting the Budget and comes at the expense of people who work and struggle.