with

SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

2018-2019 FINAL BUDGET OUTCOME

The defining feature of the 2018-19 Final Budget Outcome is a $4.6 billion underspend in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
 
These new numbers show the Morrison Government is propping up their Budget by denying Australians with a disability the care they need, deserve and were promised.
 
Even with a $4.6 billion underspend on the NDIS, higher iron ore prices and a lower dollar boosting profits and the bottom line, the Budget is still in deficit.
 
This is the sixth consecutive budget deficit from a Liberal Government which promised surpluses in the first year and every year after that.
 
Today’s result confirms that net debt has more than doubled under the Liberals from $175 billion in 2013 to $374 billion now.
 
The Government shouldn’t be patting themselves on the back about today’s numbers.
 
Australia has the slowest growth in a decade, stagnant wages, productivity in decline, record household debt, high underemployment, and declining living standards.
 
Right when the Australian economy needs action to get the economy moving again, the Liberals have a political strategy but not an economic policy.
 
Short-changing Australians with a disability is not an economic policy.
 
It is time Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison brought forward a budget update to update their forecasts and properly outline an economic plan that supports the floundering economy and better safeguards it from global risks.

THURSDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2019