Today’s National Accounts are a hammer blow to the Liberals’ economic credibility.
 
Feeble economic growth under this Government shows they have failed miserably to manage the economy in the interests of middle Australia.
 
Under the Liberals, the economy is floundering and middle Australia is struggling:

• Growth is just 0.4 per cent for the March quarter and 1.8 per cent for the year – the lowest annual figure since the Global Financial Crisis;
• Australia is still in a GDP per capita recession, with the measure having fallen for the last three quarters – for the first time since the 1982 recession;
• The national economy has gone from the eighth fastest-growing economy in the OECD in 2013 to the 20^th;
• Wages are growing eight times slower than profits;
• Productivity has fallen for four consecutive quarters (GDP per hour worked);
• Household spending is weak, slowing further from last year and contributing just 0.1 percentage points to growth; and
• Living standards are growing slower under the Liberals than under the previous Labor Government.

Growth with a one in front of it comes courtesy of six years of stagnation, blame-shifting and finger-pointing from a dysfunctional Government with no policy direction.
 
The Liberals have nobody but themselves to blame for weak growth, stagnant wages and rising unemployment.
 
No Treasurer has spent more time focused on his opponents and less time focused on growing the economy.
 
It’s no wonder this Treasurer has only ever presided over below-trend growth.
 
It’s long past time for the Liberals to take responsibility for the fact the economy has weakened substantially on their watch.
 
The Liberals’ claims that they’re good at managing the economy just aren’t backed up by facts.
 
After these numbers today, the Government’s economic credibility is in tatters.