Michaelia Cash: At the heart of Labor’s Budget lies age-old socialist belief in high taxing and big spending
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Federal budgets are more than just numbers.
The numbers are certainly important and will ultimately be proved to be a good, not-so-good, or bad set of forecasts and assumptions. That will become clear at the end of the process when the final numbers are known.
But what a Budget does tell you at its time of delivery is the underlying values, philosophy and ideology driving the government of the day.
This is the best lens with which to view the Albanese Government’s Budget delivered a week ago.
At its heart lies the age-old Labor socialist belief in high taxing, big spending government.
Whatever Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers would like Australians to believe, there is little doubt this Budget is a clear indication that they march to the tune of the socialist left.
Dr Chalmers obviously learnt well at the feet of his former boss Wayne Swan. Who will forget the Kevin Rudd team portraying to the Australian people that they would be economic conservatives only to march back towards the socialist left when they got into government.
The reality was they never retreated from their socialist left ideals and neither has the Albanese Government.
After less than a year in government, Labor spending will increase by $185 billion. There will be 10,000 extra public servants in Canberra.
Ten million Australians who earn under $126,000 will face a tax hike and about 175,000 more Australians will be unemployed.
Millions of middle Australians — the backbone of our country — are worse off. This Government is spending an additional $185 billion, yet middle-income Australians won’t receive one cent.
Amid a housing and rental crisis, our migration numbers will increase massively by 1.5 million people across five years — the highest number in our country’s history and more than the population of Adelaide. Liberal leader Peter Dutton quite rightly asks, that without addressing housing supply and infrastructure, where will these people live?
On average across the nation power bills are still going up by more than $500 and as a result of the Government’s policies, inflation will only stay higher for longer, continuing to grind down real incomes of households.
It is clear Labor does not have the answers and reverting to its socialist roots will not provide those answers.
The Albanese Government benefited from nine years of the Coalition’s strong economic management with the books Labor inherited having the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years. The Coalition created almost 2 million jobs while in government.
Interest rates were at historic lows when we left government.
Labor has also benefited from company tax receipts and the revenue generated from soaring iron ore, coal, gas and other mining commodities.
Much of that has come from WA, still the engine room of the national economy.
Labor gives little public support to either WA or the resources sector, but they’re always willing to spend the benefits.
Given the revenues from mining and tax receipts in this Budget, there should be a surplus next year as well.
But, as we move further away from the Coalition years, this Budget projects that the economic numbers increasingly deteriorate.
The Coalition will continue to remain focused on strengthening the Australian economy, just like we did when we were in government.
As Peter Dutton says, we want our hard-working middle class to get ahead, not to become Labor’ s working poor.
Our policies will strengthen our society and our local communities. We will stand against the Government’s “Big Australia” policy, by sensibly managing migration in conjunction with proper infrastructure planning. And we will help keep Australia safe and secure.
In his Budget in reply speech Mr Dutton also committed to:
- Incentivise unemployed Australians to take up work by increasing how much they can earn before JobSeeker is reduced
- Reinstate the cashless debit card in communities that want and need it. This will mean welfare can be spent on food for kids, not alcohol and drugs
- Restore the number of Medicare-subsidised psychological sessions from 10 to 20
- Provide $4 million in funding for Ovarian Cancer Australia, and undertake a review of women’s health items available through Medicare and the PBS
- Double the size of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation
- Impose more obligations on big digital companies to stop scams and fraud
- Restore the tax to GDP threshold
- Ban gambling advertising during sports broadcasts, for an hour each side of a game.
The Coalition has always believed the best way to ensure Australians are getting ahead is a job. Jobs change lives, families and communities.
This has been one of the guiding principles of Liberal governments dating back to that of our founder, Robert Menzies.
That’s why, with such a tight labour market, we believe it is incumbent on the Government to encourage those on JobSeeker to get a job.
There are more than 840,000 JobSeeker recipients of which more than 75 per cent have no reported earnings — that is, no part-time work.
We propose increasing how much people can earn before their benefits are reduced and believe this will incentivise job seekers to take up opportunities.
This policy will support many small and medium-sized businesses across the country which are crying out for workers and have been left stranded by this Government.
Our policy means a job seeker who gets some part-time work and takes home $300 a fortnight would still retain the full JobSeeker allowance.
We also know that often once a job seeker gets a taste for work they are more motivated to turn that part-time work into more. This is a great pathway to full-time employment.
The Coalition understands that Australians want to see emissions go down. Between 2013 and 2021, the Coalition government cut Australia’s emissions by 17 per cent while growing the economy and creating jobs.
Next-generation, small modular nuclear technologies are safe, reliable, and cost-effective, can be plugged into existing grids where we have turned off coal, and emit zero emissions.
The Coalition recognises the need in the 21st century for sensible governments to consider small modular nuclear as part of the energy mix.
Already, 32 countries, including Canada, China, France, the United States and the United Kingdom, use zero-emission nuclear power today, including to firm-up renewables, while 50 countries are exploring or investing in next-generation nuclear technology.
As I wrote at the beginning, Budgets are more than just numbers.
The Budget delivered by this Government, with its high taxing and high spending agenda is a very different proposition to what the Coalition is putting forward.
Our policy agenda will always be based on the value of supporting equality of opportunity. This is how a country is made stronger and more prosperous.
We believe in lower taxes, smaller government and policies that support opportunity and aspiration.
These are the values that we believe can deliver a better outcome for Australians and which have been proved to deliver better outcomes time and again, rather than the socialist model Labor governments are so fond of.
Peter Dutton and the Coalition team will continue to promote and fight for these values and produce policies, like we have in our Budget in reply, that support them.
Michaelia Cash is a Liberal Senator for WA.
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Source: News
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