Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

For a party that claims to be big on the idea of individual responsibility, this government is surprisingly resistant to taking responsibility for its own actions. It is always somebody else's fault, never the fault of the people over there. It's the unions, Greta Thunberg, the Public Service, the states, the crossbench; there's always somebody else to blame. Their talking points—helpfully distributed to the entire press gallery and then pretty much to every other person in Australia on Monday—were littered with references to the Labor Party. Six years in, their talking points talk only about the Labor Party and our previous policies, despite the fact we are not in government and have not been in government for six years. So it's no surprise to hear Minister Cormann claim that responsibility for a downgrade to Australia's growth forecast lies somewhere else—pretty much anywhere else except with him and the government. But, unfortunately, that is just not true.

Today the IMF released its World economic outlook, which substantially downgraded its forecast for Australia's economic growth. The report shows the hollowness of the government's claim that they are managing the economy 'just fine, thank you very much'. Instead, the IMF's analysis reinforces what we are seeing in multiple indicators across the economy. It is the slowest economic growth since the GFC 10 years ago. Household debt is at record highs. There are more than two million Australians unemployed or underemployed. Business investment, which people over there are skiting about, is the lowest it has been since the 1990 recession. Now, the government and Minister Cormann would like to blame this on global economic headwinds, but the truth is that that answer does not stack up. Australia's downgrade is larger than that for global growth and four times larger than that for the eurozone and the advanced economies as a whole. Our performance cannot be explained as merely part of the global headwinds, because it is so much worse than the averages in the countries we would normally compare ourselves to.

The coalition have been in power for six years now, and during that time they have overseen a stark deterioration in Australia's economy. This is not something that is happening in the abstract. Ordinary Australians have seen their wages stagnate whilst the cost of living goes up, and it is time for the government to take responsibility. Now, that may not be politically convenient for the government and it may not fit the chief marketer, the Prime Minister, and his clever messaging strategy, but the government cannot pretend any longer that there is no problem. It is time for them to act.

The Prime Minister, in response to all of this, has declared that he's not spooked. How self-obsessed—as though the IMF's announcement was a challenge to him personally rather than a substantive policy challenge for the Australian economy. His response indicates that his intention is to deliver more of the same, which is absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, that is not going to cut it. The Reserve Bank has cut the cash rate five times since 2016 to the current record low. The IMF has called on countries, including Australia, to provide fiscal stimulus and invest in infrastructure to support their economies and improve productivity. According to the IMF, monetary policy cannot be the only game in town and should be coupled with fiscal support where fiscal space is available.

They're far from alone. Serious economic commentators from Deloitte Access through to the Reserve Bank have been calling for fiscal responses to Australia's stagnating growth. And there are plenty of options for the government. They just need to look at the mounting pile of policy concerns—problems that they are willing to ignore at the moment: wages policy, energy policy, an increase to Newstart, infrastructure investment and a plan to stimulate business investment. All those options are on the table but not on the table for this government, which refuses to take responsibility for the economy. They have allowed real problems to develop in the Australian economy during their six years in office, and this is not something that the PM can fix with a pithy slogan or a tricky messaging strategy. He has to do something real. It is time for him to act.