PEFO Confirms Real Wages Going Backwards, Costs Of Living Skyrocketing And Australians Falling Behind

20 April 2022

JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

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

PEFO CONFIRMS REAL WAGES GOING BACKWARDS, COSTS OF LIVING SKYROCKETING AND AUSTRALIANS FALLING BEHIND

The Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) released today confirms that the Morrison Government's decade of economic mismanagement has resulted in a budget riddled with waste and rorts and with a trillion dollars in debt with not enough to show for it.
 
The PEFO also confirms that the Morrison Government’s latest budget was nothing more than a pre-election cash splash to secure a fourth term in office rather than enduring solutions to the rising costs of living.
 
So far this campaign, the Morrison Government has relied on desperate lies and scare campaigns about tax, spending, debt and interest rates in a bid to distract from their record of economic mismanagement and underperformance.
 
The PEFO highlights that when it comes to inflation, wages and debt:

Real wages continue to go backwards meaning that, for the average worker, their real wages will have fallen $3,200 over the past two years.
Costs of living continue to skyrocket, with inflation forecast to reach 4 ¼ per cent by June 2022.
Interest costs on the record debt accumulated by the Liberals will be larger than what we spend on child care, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or Family Assistance by the end of the forward estimates. Treasury and Finance have warned this could blow out by a further $2.5 billion given current interest yields.

These serious challenges in our economy come after a much longer period under the Liberals of record low wages growth, weak business investment, flatlining productivity and slow economic growth.
 
After a decade in office, average economic growth, average productivity growth, average wages growth, average business investment and average unemployment have all been weaker under the Liberals than under the last Labor Government.
 
These long-term challenges have left workers and families less resilient in the face of rising inflation and interest rates as their real wages go backwards.  
 
This is despite the Morrison Government taxing more, spending more and borrowing more than the last Labor Government – but delivering much less.
  
Labor has a comprehensive economic plan for a better future.
 
Labor knows that a better future relies on a better, stronger, more inclusive and more sustainable economy – powered by cleaner and cheaper energy, a bigger and better-trained workforce, and key investments in the care economy, digital economy and a Future Made in Australia.  
 
Australians can’t afford another three years of economic mismanagement under the Morrison Government.

WEDNESDAY, 20 APRIL, 2022