2 years ago
GROWTH SLOWS, WITH MORE PAIN TO COME
JIM CHALMERS MP
Today’s growth numbers show the economy was slowing even before the current lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, and things will get worse before they get better.
Australia’s growth is now slower than the United States, United Kingdom and OECD average and the worst of the economic pain caused by the Morrison Government’s incompetence is yet to come.
At Budget time the Treasurer said Australia was at the front of the pack and our economy was roaring back, but we now know it was slowing then and shrinking now.
Australia’s at the back of the global pack in quarterly growth and vaccination rates and those two failures are related.
Even before the Morrison Government’s incompetence forced Australia’s two largest economies into ongoing lockdowns:
Australia’s growth is now slower than the United States, United Kingdom and OECD average and the worst of the economic pain caused by the Morrison Government’s incompetence is yet to come.
At Budget time the Treasurer said Australia was at the front of the pack and our economy was roaring back, but we now know it was slowing then and shrinking now.
Australia’s at the back of the global pack in quarterly growth and vaccination rates and those two failures are related.
Even before the Morrison Government’s incompetence forced Australia’s two largest economies into ongoing lockdowns:
- Economic growth slowed to 0.7 per cent from 1.9 per cent last quarter;
- Average wages went backwards by -0.1 per cent with the Government’s own Budget expecting real wages to go backwards over the next four years;
- Household expenditure had not yet fully recovered and is still 0.3 per cent below pre-pandemic levels;
- Business investment was down 22% on what the Liberals inherited and remains at record lows as a share of the economy; and
- Productivity fell by 1.2 per cent this quarter, falling in 3 out of 4 quarters in the 2020-21 financial year.
The true cost of the Morrison Government’s incompetence will be revealed in the September quarter, which will cover the ongoing and protracted lockdowns in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.
Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have mismanaged the pandemic, misjudged the recovery, and mishandled economic supports.
Their failures on vaccines, quarantine and economic support are bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars a day and billions of dollars a week from the national economy.
The recovery is hostage to their incompetence.
You cannot have a first-rate economic recovery with a third-rate vaccine rollout.
Australians are paying the price for Scott Morrison’s mistakes.
Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have mismanaged the pandemic, misjudged the recovery, and mishandled economic supports.
Their failures on vaccines, quarantine and economic support are bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars a day and billions of dollars a week from the national economy.
The recovery is hostage to their incompetence.
You cannot have a first-rate economic recovery with a third-rate vaccine rollout.
Australians are paying the price for Scott Morrison’s mistakes.