Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The people of Sydney—and, before that, the people of Melbourne and indeed people right around our country—in the last year and a bit have had to make sacrifices to limit the spread of this diabolical virus. I know that the thoughts of the whole parliament—certainly this side of the parliament—are with the people of Sydney as they deal with an uncertain period made necessary by our collective efforts to do what we can to limit the spread of COVID-19.

I suspect that one of the reasons why those opposite, in question after question and motion after motion, are so desperate to talk about the Labor Party—so desperate to point the finger or so desperate to change the subject—is that in their heart of hearts those opposite actually understand that the Prime Minister's bungling of vaccinations and quarantine are one reason why we're having lockdown after lockdown after lockdown. Even those opposite, who are not the sharpest tools in the shed, understand that for as long as those opposite to continue to make an absolute mess of those two important tasks then we will continue to be asking the people of this country to make the kinds of sacrifices that the people of Sydney are making as we speak.

The Premier of New South Wales said today—and she's right—that we'll continue to have these lockdowns until we deploy the vaccinations broadly, and that those vaccinations and the vaccination process are the responsibility of the federal government. It is time that this Prime Minister, at long last, took proper responsibility for those two important things which are jeopardising the recovery and jeopardising our communities, making life hard for people in Sydney now and in Melbourne before that, and in different parts of the country for much of the last year and a bit.

Those opposite talk about the jobs numbers that came out last week, and we have said that those numbers were welcome and pleasing; we've said all throughout that we want to see people employed and people back to work. It's why we proposed the wage subsidy and why we've been constructive throughout. But what those opposite don't understand is that the secret to Australia's relative success has been the efforts of our people, despite the efforts of their government. This country would be performing much, much better if those opposite got their act together when it comes to vaccinations and quarantine. Just because the recession could have been worse doesn't mean that the recovery couldn't be better. The foundation that the Australian people have built together—this remarkable foundation that they've built together when it comes to this recovery—is put at risk and held hostage by the bungling of vaccinations and quarantine, as we have said repeatedly. Even in the Treasurer's own budget is a forecast, an estimate—there's an expectation—that there will be a lockdown every month in a major capital city for the rest of the year. Those opposite have actually budgeted for failure. Their own budget says that they will continue to get this wrong and that the people of this country will continue to be locked down as a consequence of their incompetence.

There are two ways that we can squander the foundation that the Australian people have built throughout this recession and into the recovery. The first one is to continue to get those two important tasks wrong. The second is to continue to play the kind of short-term politics that we saw in the budget that was handed down not that long ago. In that budget, we saw a deficit of vision. We saw generational debt without a generational dividend. We didn't see the kind of long-term thinking which is necessary to ensure that we can do justice to that foundation which Australians have built together in the immediate aftermath of the recession, to what Australians have done for each other—to actually build on that with a long-term plan to make sure the economy grows, and not just grows but grows in an inclusive and sustainable way into the future. That's so working people in this country can actually get a slice of the action—so we have a recovery where people actually feel the benefit of that recovery.

And it's so we can deal with some of the challenges that we have as a country, whether those be China, cybersecurity, supply-chain risk or the scramble for talent. All of these issues are more or less ignored because of the short-term political thinking of those opposite. The Intergenerational report, which will be released on Monday by the Treasurer, is an opportunity for those opposite to finally inject some long-term thinking into this recovery—the long-term thinking that was so absent from the budget that was handed down not that long ago.

For the second time in a decade, this country risks overachieving in a crisis and underachieving in the aftermath. We know that from what the Productivity Commission said in the last couple of weeks. They said that in terms of living standards, this has been the worst decade in the last 60 years. Of course, those opposite have been in charge for eight of those 10 years where living standards have stagnated.

It's not a recovery if working people don't get a slice of the action. It's not a recovery if those opposite—and the Treasurer is the worst offender here—continue to ignore the 1.7 million Australians who can't find a job or who can't find enough work. And it's not a recovery if the working people of this country go backwards. The government's own budget says that, after a horrific period of wage stagnation, those opposite actually expect real wages to go backwards over the next four years.

The McKell Institute in Sydney has done some important research, which says that the difference between the wages outcomes under the last Labor government and the wages outcomes under this government, under those opposite—the difference between the performance under us and the performance under them—means $254 a week. Australian working people have gone backwards under those opposite by $254 a week. That is the price that ordinary working people in this country are asked to pay for the deliberate attacks on wages and conditions that we see time and time again from those opposite. Two hundred and fifty-four dollars a week is the price of that deliberate design feature of the government's economic policy which sees them come back time and time again attacking wages, attacking jobs security and attacking conditions in this country. So we won't be taking a lecture from those opposite about aspiration, when they have spent every day of the last eight long years trying to work out how they can screw down people's wages. Unfortunately, they have been successful to the tune of something like $254 a week on average.

And we won't be taking a lecture from those opposite about debt and deficit. Those opposite ran around the country saying that the debt and deficit—a tiny fraction of what it is now—was a disaster. One of the worst offenders they have just re-elevated to the Deputy Prime Ministership of this country. We won't forget that when Commonwealth government debt was $116 billion, the Deputy Prime Minister said that that risked 'economic Armageddon' and a 'real financial crisis'. Now that debt is over $1 trillion and rising, he has gone a little bit quiet about 'economic Armageddon'. If it was 'economic Armageddon' at $116 billion, I shudder to think how he would describe this debt, which is well over $1 trillion, accumulated by those opposite. So we won't be taking a lecture on debt and deficit. And we won't be taking a lecture on economic management from the party which has delivered, as I said before, according to the Productivity Commission, the worst living standards over the last 10 years compared to the 50 years before it.

Once again in question time we heard the same old rubbish about tax from those opposite. What they don't like to admit, what they don't like to concede—but you can see it in their own budget papers—is that the two highest-taxing governments have been Howard and Morrison—Howard, of all time, and Morrison. In the last 30 years, the highest-taxing governments have been Liberal governments. So spare us this complete rubbish about levels of tax. Those opposite, twice now in our political lifetime, have been the two highest-taxing governments in the history of the Commonwealth. So spare us all of that.

Those opposite have a record of economic mismanagement which is defined, in my view, by those outcomes on wages and job security. The most important part of the economy is the people-facing part of the economy—the part that determines whether people can actually provide for their loved ones and whether, if they work hard, they can get ahead. The big risk for the Australian people is not just that we've had these eight years of wage stagnation and not just that we have had eight years of job insecurity—getting worse and worse as this government has badly aged. The bigger risk for the Australian people is if those opposite are re-elected at the next opportunity—whether it is October or November or February or March; whenever it is, we will be ready—because we will have more of the wage stagnation if those opposite turn eight or nine years into 12.

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