The Labor Force figures for August show that Australians are working harder than ever to keep their heads above water as the Albanese Government’s cost of living crisis continues to impact them.
The figures show that while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%, Australians are working more hours. There was also a large increase in the number of part time jobs, often sought by people looking to supplement their income with extra work.
For Australians who have jobs – it feels like they can’t keep ahead because their bills and mortgages keep going up. People now must work harder than ever just to keep their heads above water.
Economists have also pointed out that almost all of Labor’s job creation has been in the public or non-market sector – leaving small businesses stuck with skill shortages and the public sector crowding out private businesses.
Government spending and migration are the only things propping up the economy and the jobs market – and that is not a sign of a healthy economy.
As Peter Dutton has said, to have a healthy economy, we need to get back to basics and back on track. We need to support small businesses, rein in government spending to bring down inflation, and cut red tape to drive productivity, boost real wages, create jobs, and drive business investment. This requires a Coalition government that puts creating a high growth, low inflation economy as its number one priority.
AUSTRALIA FALLS TO BE BACK OF THE PACK
The Albanese Government refuses to accept that Australia's economic challenges under them are very real.
National Accounts figures reveal the slowest GDP growth since the 1990s, outside the pandemic. It's the sixth consecutive quarter of negative GDP per person growth and the longest per capita recession in 50 years - that's 18 months of a household recession under this Government.
Living standards (real disposable income per capita) have fallen by 8.7%;
Productivity has collapsed 6.3%;
Household savings are down 10.2 percentage points;
Personal income taxes are 25.3% higher; and
Interest paid on mortgages has almost tripled.
Our core inflation is higher than all comparable economies, higher than the US, UK, Canada, Japan, the Euro Area, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and New Zealand. In other words, under Labor, Australia is at the back of the pack.
The Business Council of Australia CEO has also made clear that the Albanese government simply doesn’t know how to run the Australian economy. The despair in the business community is evident. Instead of going forward under Labor, businesses are going backwards.
But it’s not just the business community that’s aghast at Labor’s management of the economy.
Former union leader Bill Kelty recently lamented that the Albanese Government is “mired in mediocrity.”
He’s right. Because the Prime Minister and the Treasurer just don’t have an economic plan for our country.
MINISTER WATT ADMITS LABOR HAS SECRET IR AGENDA
In an extraordinary question and answer session at the National Press Club recently, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt admitted the Albanese Labor Government will not be upfront with the Australian people before the next election about their second term industrial relations agenda.
He said "……governments always take items to an agenda and then deliver "extra things" after they're elected.”
He then specifically refused to commit to tell Australians of industrial relations policies Labor may implement if re-elected.
This is a clear admission that Australians should beware. Can you imagine what nasty surprises are in store for Australians under a Labor-Greens Government?
It is now clear that the Albanese Labor Government has a hidden second term industrial relations agenda. Just like at the last election there was no mention of multi-employer bargaining, Australians can be in no doubt now that Labor have secret plans if they get voted back in. They will burden business with even more red tape and complexity and implement policies that will be in favour of their paymasters in the union movement.
For example, unions have pushed for compulsory union bargaining fees for non-union members – standby for that policy if Labor get back into Government.
CFMEU PROTESTS SHOW THE ALBANESE GOVERNMENT HAS LOST CONTROL OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
The planned unprotected strike action on building sites in Victoria and accompanying street protests across Australia are further proof the Albanese Government has lost control of the construction industry.
It is a catastrophic failure of the Albanese Government with these strikes now costing taxpayers millions of dollars and further delaying construction of vital infrastructure projects, like hospitals and roads.
The Albanese Government has encouraged this type of action by abolishing the ABCC, giving control of the construction industry to the CFMEU and by their union friendly industrial relations policies.
The Albanese Government had hoped putting the CFMEU into administration would be a set and forget solution, but they are being proved wrong time and again. Without stronger measures, chaos is likely to reign in this vital industry.
The Government should support the Coalition's Bill to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission and our Bill to ensure integrity on construction sites by keeping criminals out of the industry.
But we know that they won’t as Labor voted in the Senate to block an inquiry into CFMEU sweetheart deals which are increasing infrastructure costs for Australian taxpayers by 30%.
The motion sought to refer the nature, extent and impacts of misconduct in procurement processes involving publicly funded infrastructure and housing projects to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. This inquiry would have looked at connections between the CFMEU and declining productivity and escalating costs of infrastructure in Australia - including housing.
In the thick of a cost-of-living crisis, the last thing Australian taxpayers need is paying billions of dollars in extra infrastructure costs because of Labor's CFMEU mates.
SO, LET’S GET AUSTRALIA BACK ON TRACK
As our leader Peter Dutton has said, first we will rein in inflationary spending to take the pressure off inflation.
As a start, we will not spend $13.7 billion on corporate welfare for green hydrogen and critical minerals.
Second, we will wind-back Labor’s intervention and remove regulatory roadblocks which are suffocating the economy and stopping businesses from getting ahead. We will condense approval processes and cut back on Labor’s red tape which is killing mining, jobs, and entrepreneurialism.
Third, we will remove the complexity and hostility of Labor’s industrial relations agenda which is putting unreasonable burdens on businesses. For example, we will revert to the former Coalition Government’s simple definition of a casual worker and create certainty for our 2.5 million small businesses.
Fourth, we will provide lower, simpler, and fairer taxes for all – because Australians should keep more of what they earn.
Fifth, we will deliver competition policy which gives consumers and smaller businesses a fair go – not lobbyists and big corporations.
And sixth, we will ensure Australians have more affordable and reliable energy.
Our economic plan – with its tried and tested principles – will restore competitiveness and rebuild economic confidence.