JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
 
SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 
  

MORRISON GOVERNMENT CAN’T BE BELIEVED ON THE BUDGET
 

As the most wasteful government since Federation, the Liberals can’t be taken seriously on the Budget and the economy.
 
The Morrison Government’s latest lies about Labor’s costings are a desperate distraction from the full-blown costs of living crisis on Scott Morrison’s watch.
 
After a decade of Morrison and the Liberals, the costs of living are skyrocketing for Australians while their real wages are going backwards.
 
Instead of prioritising quality investments to help Australians get ahead, the Morrison Government’s Budget is riddled with rorts and weighed down with waste.   
 
Let’s not forget the billions that have been spent on pandemic support for firms whose revenue increased or on submarines that will never be built or through sports rorts and car park rorts and other slush funds targeting Coalition or marginal seats.
 
The facts on the Morrison Government’s wasteful spending speak for themselves –
 

• The Morrison Government has taxed more, spent more and borrowed more than their Labor predecessor, but delivered much less.  
• The Liberals are taxing more than the last Labor Government by every measure – in total, as a proportion of the economy, per person and adjusted for inflation.
• Taxes have been higher every single year under this Liberal Government than the level inherited from Labor.
• They are the second highest taxing government of the past thirty years – the highest was under John Howard.
• While they try to make a virtue of their tax-to-GDP cap, the fact is that the current cap has only been breached four times since Federation, and on every single occasion it was under the Liberals.
• The Liberals are spending more than their predecessor by $230 billion this year compared to the last Labor Government in 2013.
• Spending as a proportion of the economy averaged 24.9 per cent under the last Labor Government, but that’s risen to 26.5 per cent under the Liberals.
• The Liberal Government announced $70 billion in spending between the December update and the March Budget alone, without offsets.
• The Liberal Government committed $39 billion in its Budget without offsets.
• Analysis in the media indicates that the Liberals made $23.3 billion of announcements in the month after the 2022 Budget – which equates to $833 million a day.
• After promising surpluses in the first and every year, the Liberal Government has delivered more consecutive deficits than any government since the 1920s.

 
With this record, it’s not surprising that the Liberals doubled the debt before the pandemic began.
 
Australia will now accumulate $1 trillion in debt, half of that before the pandemic, with not enough to show for it.
 
Australians can’t afford three more years of the Morrison Government.
 
Only Labor has a plan to tackle the skyrocketing costs of living and grow the economy through cheaper child care, cheaper power bills, stronger Medicare and more secure, well paid jobs. 
 
Labor has been working very closely with the Parliamentary Budget Office, and our costings will be released in the usual way at the usual time.
 
TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2022