Living standards have gone backwards under the Liberals, according to new conclusions from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.
 
This is what happens when a third term government has a political strategy to distract from their failures but not an economic policy to boost growth, wages and living standards.
 
The survey reveals that real median household income declined by almost $500 in 2017, the latest year in the survey, to be lower than when the Liberals came to office in 2013.
 
In contrast, the two biggest annual increases in real median household income occurred under the former Labor Government, with annual increases of over $4,000 in both 2009 and 2012.
 
The survey also showed the percentage of the population in relative poverty increased to 10.4 per cent in 2017.
 
Falling household incomes should be a wake-up call for this Liberal Government, who are more focused on attacking Labor than helping families get ahead.
 
Australians are understandably worried about their wages, their jobs and the fact that Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg seem to be in denial about the weakness in the economy.
 
The economy is floundering, wages and living standards are stagnating, and the Liberals have no plan to turn things around.