5 years ago
ELECTION CON CAN’T COVER UP SIX YEARS OF CUTS AND CHAOS
CHRIS BOWEN MP
After six years of the Liberals’ cuts and chaos, and just six weeks before an election, this budget was Scott Morrison’s last chance to reverse his cuts to the services that everyday Australians rely on.
Instead, Scott Morrison has delivered an election con, filled with the same Liberal cuts.
This is a Budget from a government that has given up governing.
There is no plan for wages, no plan to tackle power prices, no plan to address climate change, and no plan for the future.
This budget:
Instead, Scott Morrison has delivered an election con, filled with the same Liberal cuts.
This is a Budget from a government that has given up governing.
There is no plan for wages, no plan to tackle power prices, no plan to address climate change, and no plan for the future.
This budget:
- Fails to reverse cuts to schools and hospitals.
- Fails to reverse cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships – in the past six years, the Liberals have cut $3 billion from TAFE and skills, and cut 150,000 apprenticeship places.
- Promises a surplus that is subsidised by short-changing people with disability through a massive underspend in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
This budget also confirms that the economy is not working for everyday Australians:
- Everything is going up except wages – wages growth has again been cut.
- Economic growth is slowing – downgraded from MYEFO.
- Household consumption is down – downgraded from MYEFO.
The budget confirms net debt has more than doubled on the Liberals’ watch (up from $175 billion in 2013 to $373.5 billion this year). Net debt under the Liberals amounts to nearly $15,000 for every person in Australia. After doubling the debt, their promise to pay it down is laughable.
The Liberals will say anything over the next six weeks to cover up for six years of cuts and chaos.
Labor will support the tax cuts that begin on 1 July for working and middle class people – this is essentially a copy of what we proposed last year, and they are simply catching up to us.
But the Liberals are so out of touch that they’ve given a much smaller tax cut to two million Australians earning less than $40,000. Labor will fix this and give these working people the tax relief they deserve.
The Liberals are presiding over an economy that doesn’t work in the interests of everyday Australians. Scott Morrison is too out of touch to understand this.
He is too out of touch to understand that everything is going up except for wages. He is too out of touch to understand that his cuts to Medicare, hospitals, schools and penalty rates have hurt Australian families.
Budgets are about priorities. For six years, the Liberals have prioritised an $80 billion tax handout for the top end of town over Medicare, schools and hospitals.
A Shorten Labor Government will have different priorities. For nearly six years, our united and stable team has been working hard on our plan for a fair go for all Australians.
Our Fair Go Action Plan will put people first. If elected we will.
- Fix our schools and hospitals. Restore funding cut by the Liberals and Nationals, to ensure every community has quality public schools and hospitals.
- Ease pressure on family budgets. Tax breaks for workers, not the top end of town.
- Stand up for workers. Reverse cuts to penalty rates and crack down on abuse of labour hire and 457 visas.
- Invest in cheaper, cleaner energy. More renewables to put downward pressure on power prices
- Build a strong economy that works for us all. Make the top end of town pay their fair share, so we can build new infrastructure and give workers a fair go.
We will pay for it by making multinationals pay their fair share and closing tax loopholes used by the top end of town.
Bill Shorten and Labor will deliver a fair go for all Australians, not just the top end of town.