Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an out-of-touch, rudderless government that is failing on jobs and on growth of the economy. While Labor has been out in the community talking about tackling inequality and the issues that matter to Australians—in my case, Tasmanians—the Liberals have been busy obsessing over Labor or sharpening their knives. All the Australian people are left with after six years of finger-pointing and blame-shifting is the slowest economic growth since the global financial crisis—stagnant wages, declining productivity and living standards, and record public and household debt. Wage growth stands at 0.6 per cent, the lowest on record, and Mr Morrison and Mr Frydenberg face the cameras with cheeky grins and say, 'Everything is going to plan.'

Last week the Reserve Bank decided to keep interest rates at a record low of one per cent. We know that the governor has warned this government on numerous occasions that we can't expect taxation and the economy to continue without better policies from this government. This comes off the back of two cuts in June and another cut in July. The Reserve Bank has also downgraded its economic growth and inflation forecasts. The global economy is unsettled, with trade tensions between the US and China continuing to drive down stock markets and exchange rates. Furthermore, interest rates are being lowered in the US, and political instability in Europe is creating particularly fragile circumstances. The Australian dollar has also hit a 10-year low of US66.77c. If you ask economists for their view on the national economic figures, many believe that the interest rates will fall as low as 0.5 per cent in the coming months and that, if the world moves to negative interest rates, Australia will be forced to consider applying this unique monetary policy.

Those opposite fail to take responsibility for their own economic mismanagement. Their economic mismanagement and incompetence has left the Australian economy adrift. Household living standards have declined under the Liberals, with real household median income lower than it was in 2013. When the global economy is shifting fast and the Australian economy is struggling to keep up, wages are growing at only one-sixth of the pace of profits, with this government presiding over the worst wages growth on record. That's really not a record to be proud of. Australians are currently feeling as if, no matter how hard they work, they just can't get ahead, because their wages aren't keeping up with the skyrocketing energy prices and health and food costs. The annual GDP growth is weaker than the RBA had forecast and weaker than what the government expected only a few months ago. This new data shows that, on the Liberals' watch, growth is just 0.5 per cent for the June quarter and has slowed further to 1.4 per cent for the year; GDP per capita has gone backwards over the year for the first time since the GFC; and annual GDP growth is lower than population growth. The national economy has gone from the eighth-fastest-growing economy in the OECD when Labor was in government to the 20th. Wages are growing at only one-sixth of the pace of profits. Productivity—the GDP per hour worked—has gone backwards over the year. Household spending remains weak, with annual growth slowing further to 1.4 per cent. Total private business investment went backwards in the quarter and over the year. As a percentage of nominal GDP, it was around its lowest level since the early 1990s recession.

Right when Australians need and expect a plan from the Morrison government to get the economy going, all they get instead is the good old blame game or the attack on workers or, as we've seen, those on Newstart. There's a thought bubble that keeps re-emerging and floating past the government, and that is, 'We have to keep whacking those who don't have a job,' even though the government are the ones that are responsible for not driving the economy, not allowing the creation of the jobs that need to be created, and people not having the confidence to employ people.

This weak growth and this lack of direction from the government are the inevitable consequences of a government with a political strategy but not an economic plan. The Morrison government repeatedly assured voters that the economy would remain strong under them. In fact, they campaigned heavily on that, because they had no other plan. They didn't talk about anything else that the Australian people would expect from a government going into an election. The Australian people would expect the government to provide their manifesto for where they saw the country going forward but, no, the Liberals didn't do that. They just said: 'Trust us. We're the better economic managers.' Well, quite frankly, from what I've articulated in this speech, they are not economic managers; they're frauds. This Morrison government repeatedly assured voters that the economy would stay strong under its government. This was an ironclad promise at the election. Yet they're failing the test that they set for themselves.

Labor will always fight, every day, for those less fortunate. Labor will always fight for Australian workers. Labor will always fight for Australian families, and we are determined to give them, going forward, an economic agenda to believe in. We will hold this government to account, because this government has failed the Australian people. They have failed their own tests that they set for themselves. They have presided over a national debt that's doubled. We see that the Australian workers who want jobs or want more work aren't able to obtain that job security. A strong leader wouldn't be taking our economy backwards. A strong leader would be taking Australia forward. Australians must have confidence in the economy. At the moment, they do not have that confidence, they do not have confidence in this government and they do not believe that this government can get the job done.