The Budget might be recovering because of commodity prices but Australians facing skyrocketing costs of living and falling real wages are still being left behind. 

Federal Labor thanks Dr Guy Debelle for his decades of service to the nation at the Reserve Bank, including more than five years as Deputy Governor, and we wish him well as he takes on new challenges in the energy sector.

We welcome the expected rebound in the economy in the December quarter after the big downturn we didn’t have to have in the quarter before.

Today’s new ABS data shows real wages are still going backwards even as the economy recovers.

A big announcement about a scheduled and expected productivity review on the eve of an election doesn’t make up for this Government’s failures on productivity for much of its near-decade in office.

The recovery would be stronger if not for the Morrison Government’s failures on the health front. 

Another desperate scare campaign in today’s media shows why Josh Frydenberg’s credibility is becoming scarcer than a rapid antigen test.

After eight years of Coalition cuts to TAFE and training and despite a nation-wide skills shortage, 1.7 million Australians are looking for work or more hours to pay the rent, pay for fuel, and if they can afford to, buy Christmas gifts.

The mid-year budget update was long on complacency and self-congratulation but short of a plan to deal with the skyrocketing costs of living, stagnant wages, insecure work, skills shortages, or to crack down on rorts and waste.

Today it was revealed that Scott Morrison pours four times more of your money into wealthier Liberal electorates than he spends on our local community.