Get off your arse and do something!
For a government that won office on the back of a “jobs and growth” mantra, how did she get away with this? Okay, it was Q&A and Cup eve and people were distracted. But for the Health Minister Sussan Ley to go on the public record and say, “Governments don’t create jobs, governments don’t make it happen,” is a symptom of the delinquency of this government. (2m. 30s).
Where is the accountability when a senior minister can say this and still keep her job?
The Anglicare Australia report, released on Monday: Positions Vacant? When The Jobs Aren’t There, shows a total of 732,000 Australians registered as unemployed with an estimated 875,200 underemployed as at June 2016.
The report shows an average 168,896 jobs advertised each month.
It also shows just 13% of jobs advertised in May were at entry level, i.e. Year 12 or equivalent while 37% of jobs advertised required a bachelor degree or higher qualification.
With figures like this, it’s high time these leaners got off their arse and delivered on their jobs and growth mantra. If the government wants the private sector to create the jobs, then it needs to recognise that firms will only employ labour if they can sell the production that is created from that extra employment.
But this present and utterly pathetic bunch of neo-liberal conservatives continue to believe the myth that unemployment is a result of supply-side difficulties that have to be eliminated by deregulating the labour market, imposing tougher work conditions and denying benefits to people.
“The main reason that the supply-side approach is flawed is because it fails to recognise that unemployment arises when there are not enough jobs created to match the preferences of the willing labour supply. The research evidence is clear – churning people through training programs divorced from the context of the paid-work environment is a waste of time and resources and demoralises the victims of the process – the unemployed.”
Yet these employees of the state, (our politicians), who lavish themselves with work benefits far beyond anything enjoyed by the average employee in the marketplace, will argue the opposite.
Never mind the very generous workplace conditions we provide them. These are the real “leaners” Joe Hockey referred to, in his infamous 2014 budget speech; the ones who constantly mouth off how successful they have been, quoting various official figures that fail to address the real issues. These are the people who have become the problem.
These are the people we employ to ensure everyone else is employed. How can they be allowed to say they don’t create jobs? When it came to light that 300,000 jobs were created last year they were all too ready to falsely claim the credit.
Even when they thought they were creating jobs, they weren’t. How could they create jobs when the very formula they use, is flawed? They are not even looking in the right direction. The reality is that unemployment occurs when the demand for goods and services falls.
Unemployment is the product of a failure to create enough jobs to drive that demand through spending. This results in total spending being below the level necessary to generate sales that will provide jobs for all those who desire work.
Only increased government spending will correct this anomaly. Our government’s entire approach toward reducing unemployment is to blame the unemployed despite even the official figures showing that there is only one job vacancy for every four people looking for work.
The situation is much worse than that, of course, because it doesn’t include those who have simply given up looking. It doesn’t include those who work as little as one hour per week.
So where is the outcry? Why is the media not doing its job as the fourth estate? How is it Sussan Ley can say, “Governments don’t create jobs, governments don’t make it happen,” and not be challenged?
This pathetic lack of concern is an open invitation from the people to allow our politicians to sit on their fat arses and do nothing.
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42 comments
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Keitha Granville -
Lorraine Stansfiewld -
Kaye Lee -
flohri1754 -
Jason -
Steve Laing - makeourvoiceheard.com -
townsvilleblog -
townsvilleblog -
Jaq -
Gangey1959 -
keerti -
Heterodox (@mmt_rod) -
paulwalter -
diannaart -
guest -
Percy -
helvityni -
Jaquix -
Wayne Turner -
totaram -
Andreas Bimba -
Kaye Lee -
MichaelW -
nurses1968 -
Matters Not -
Jexpat -
Matters Not -
Andreas Bimba -
paulwalter -
Kaye Lee -
helvityni -
Harquebus -
Jason -
Sean Crawley -
Harquebus -
Arthur Tarry -
philgorman2014 -
JEANETTE -
diannaart -
Andreas Bimba -
-
Judith W
Return to home pagewhat can we do? we can write to them, letters to papers, AIMN, and then what?
Neither side is ever going to do anything about the obscenity of their entitlements. None of them.
They will just happily sit in their jobs for long enough to get the lifetime pension plus any other cushy job with NO effect on that pension, while the rest of the pensioners in this country live below the poverty line and if they dare to earn some few extra dollars to make life liveable, the pension is adjusted accordingly.
How about a complete change ? When parties set out their policies before an election, make all sorts of promises, they should be held accountable. If they fail to deliver they are out.
Pigs might fly.
This government will take take take but never give anything in return. They are the parasites of our society. I agree with Keitha Granville their entitlements are an obscenity as they do nothing to warrant such entitlements.
All they have to do is follow the advice that everyone, from ACOSS to the BCA, is giving them and increase welfare payments rather than cutting them. This has so many benefits it would very quickly pay for itself. Every cent will recirculate through the economy rather than being stashed away in superannuation or investment properties hence stimulating demand and creating jobs. People will be healthier if they have enough money for food and medicine. They are more likely to go to school or get a job if they have an address.
MMT shows us we can do this regardless of cost but, even for those who cannot accept that, the current 30 year bond rate is just over 2%. Even if you weren;t a sovereign currency issuing nation, you would be taking advantage of that to build infrastructure which will create jobs and increase productivity.
These guys really don’t seem to have a plan other than endless inquiries and attempts to divert public assets and services to private hands.
Agree completely, Kaye Lee ….
So the government doesn’t employ people in the army, hospitals, firefighters, police, school teachers etc? Stupid comment considering we have just avoided recession under the pubs both due to military spending. They are blinded by extremist ideology that ignores reality!
Are you saying that there actually isn’t a Jobs and Growth plan at all? They just made it all up! Well I never!
But I think if you have a good look at the various media teams that each department is creating to try and troll social media and news sites, I think its a stretch to suggest that this Government don’t create jobs. Unless of course they just mean jobs for normal people, other than their mates, which then is probably true.
John, I wasn’t distracted by the CUB Melbourne Cup, after they sacked workers and offered to re=employ them on 60% less wages I won’t ever have another drink of a CUB product, nor will I watch anything that they sponsor.
Well said Steve, they failed to create jobs for the 1,101,000 unemployed and a further 1,002,000 under-employed, but they have produced growth in the ‘living in poverty’ sector, with Australia passing the 3 million mark recently.
Australians are pathetic. This corrupted Gov. creates debt, lies, steals and everybody goes oh well. We need to have a no shopping day, a take your money out of the banks day, a DON’T buy a newspaper day, cancel Foxtel day, but I guess its just too much to ask. I used to love it here. But now its beginning to rot, and that includes its lazy, apathetic, bogan population. We got the Government we deserved. A bunch of convicts. Seems the apple doesnt fall far from the tree.
She has a job, there is a huge growth in her benefits and bank balance, and she will get a good position with some company or other after she is done in Canberra while still getting her thoroughly (un)deserved pension. Shame she is as dumb as a stick.
What are we complaining about?
When does the revolution begin? Yawn.
Abbott said “My Government will create 2 million jobs in 5yrs ” , when the Government is nowhere near their target its
“Governments don’t create jobs, governments don’t make it happen,”
So much for LNP economic management
The neoliberal approach of Ley and co is actually derived of the mean spirited 19th century classical liberal economics of Dicken’s time. It sees us as mere units. to be squeezed for the difference.
Steering clear of constructive thought and action is just the typical abdication of responsibility derived of a sense of a grasp on power that has them holding on to the wealth as something ordained for them, regardless of what happens to others. This sort of economics is part of an apparatus of power, not a means for solving human want through efficient use of resources.
The only thing the LNP is making happen is setting up government to fail. They believe in small government, deregulation. Of course that doesn’t stop them from take, take taking the salary, benefits and pension upon leaving government employment – often well before retirement age. Then go on the nepotism merry-go-round, possible conflict of interest? No worries, in 18 months time they are free to offer advice, say anything they want, just ask former Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/31/andrew-robb-did-not-tell-prime-minister-about-role-with-chinese-company
The point is, of course, that there is a giiant conradiction betwwen what the Coalition says it will do and what its ideology allows them to do.
When Sussan Ley said governments do not create jobs, we were not really listening. As a country we are still blinded by the the mantra of “Jobs and Growth”. We believed it even though it is meaningless.
The IPA and the Coalition are locked into a “small government” policy – that is, to do as little as possible. It is about the initiative of “free markets” to do all the “lifting”. But of course the “free markets” are interested only in the “free markets”. Maurice Newman has been spruiking “free market” economics in the Murdoch press recently, proudly parading increases in economic gains in various places, But Newman also writtes about climate change and denies that his wondrous “free market” increases in economic growth have anything to do with the rapid, unprecedented rise in world temperatures.
Also recently we have seen the poverty on the Cayman Islands, tax safe haven of the wealthy.
So also in the USA, the rise of Trump, the entrepreneurial champion of the poor, the disenfranchised and the disaffected. LOL.
Now 1% of the world’s population owns 50% of the world’s wealth. Aren’t capitalist “free markets” wonderful! They cream off the profits of the world while actually destroying it.
So many Aussies forget about Keatings stimulus package which saved this Country from the GFC
Earlier on there was another female Murdoch journalist on Q&A advising every jobless to stop complaining and start their own businesses….
So, thousands of new businesses will pop up, but will go broke just as quickly, the rest of jobless have no money to support any business….
Oh dear why does ABC bother with these silly people; I just watched the Drum; out of three guests only one was worth listening.
So what was all that “Jobs and Growth” that Turnbull repeated ad nauseum during the longest election campaign in Australian history? If the government cant/shouldnt do anything about jobs (a la Ms Ley) then what the hell are they there for and why did they infer that they were great at creating jobs? Those who voted for these liars and clowns should be justifiably annoyed with them AND NEVER VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN !!!
These are the real “leaners” sums up this mob and their MSM.
“Jobs and growth” the lying empty slogan from “Mr Advocacy And NOT Slogans” Turnbull – Labor should of pointed this constant LIE out during the election,but alas they hopelessly failed too.
John Kelly: Why would the MSM challenge the statement that “govt. doesn’t create jobs” etc. Any journalist that tried to challenge that would lose their job!
It’s much better to write an editorial in “the financial review” challenging the views of Piketty (without data, but based purely on “opinion”). That is what they are paid to do. Malcolm Roberts can challenge Brian Cox on Physics, Andrew Bolt challenges every scientist you can think of on a daily basis, and even Cardinal Pell is at it (you would expect that) and I am sure you can find many other examples. This is beyond the level of conspiracy theories. These people are actively nurtured and promoted by being paid handsomely to continue spouting their lies. And the press gives them regular coverage, so that unthinking dullards who lap up the garbage in the tabloids end up being brainwashed. Even the ABC is now engaged in feeding the propaganda to the masses. Members of the IPA are on every show you can imagine, with nary a decent opposition from even TAI or some Labor politician.
This is the main exercise required for getting the Coalition elected. Given that they really work in the interests of barely 1% of the population, with some crumbs thrown to another 5 to 10%, the task is now to bamboozle another 40% of the population to vote against their own interests. Unfortunately, Labor politicians who are more interested in themselves rather than the people they are supposed to represent, make this easier than it would otherwise be. All quite sad.
As pointed out by Kaye Lee, creating jobs is easy, if only some of our politicians can ditch neo-liberal “budget repair” and similar nonsense, on which the entire coalition myth of “better economic management” is built.
I wonder what Maurice Newman’s or Rupert Murdoch’s ideal free enterprise world would look like? Would it be:
A. A thriving economy with multitudes of profitable businesses, everyone employed and paid according to their contribution, no governments and voluntary citizens groups providing charity where needed.
B. A feudal warlord ruling over violent barons, a class of servants and soldiers and a population of miserable serfs living in a warming and dying planet.
As our governments, both Conservative or Labor are puppets of the capital controlling class, and our corrupt mass media keeps the electorate ignorant or apathetic, my guess is we are heading towards option B unless we can regain our democracy and the electorate somehow becomes engaged and informed.
There have been signs of hope with the brief success of Bernie Sanders in the U.S. and with Jeremy Corbyn in the UK as well as some fairly meritorious nations like Switzerland and even Japan in many respects.
I really think if the electorate voted the Australian Greens into office that huge progress could be made but it may need a bit of suppression of the capital controlling elite who have the resources for a good fight. Is this likely electorally, not currently.
If Nick Xenophon created a truly national party it is conceivable that a green and orange ‘revolution’ could achieve sufficient electoral support to gain office in their own right or with the ALP in a coalition of equals.
The Australian Labor Party could also adopt the Jeremy Corbyn path and regain considerable support and win outright and set about repairing this nation.
The curse of neoliberalism, monetarism, corporate dictatorship, economic decline and rampant environmental destruction must end.
I watched Rebecca Weiser on the Drum tonight. Her husband Nick Cater was on last night. He is employed by the Liberal Party think tank, the Menzies Institute, which receives hundreds of thousands of dollars funding from our government coffers. We have to endure Gerard Henderson and his wife Anne just because they set up a tax dodge called the Sydney Institute. Whilst I think the Hendersons may do some good philanthropic things, it is pointless listening to their political analysis. And Cater and Weisser are in the same category as Rowan Deane – another ABC regular for some unfathomable reason. Vaguely sensible conservatives like John Hewson and Catherine McGregor get a run occasionally but the majority of the time we are fed absolute regurgitated mantras with not one scintilla of analysis or thought from people who are experts on nothing at all except unevidenced propaganda.
Speaking to a very establishment employee of the ABC, they expressed their despair at the attacks from the government, the continual requests for information from them at the same time as they are trashing them in the press. They are even trying to interfere in their pay deals and how they allocate their money. The independence of the ABC and its ability to operate are under direct and deliberate attack from this government who want no scrutiny beyond their leaks to the Murdoch rags – the place Coalition back benchers go to find out what their policy is as soon as the marketing people have decided on it and fed it under the title “a senior government source”.
When I asked them what can be done, they replied it was time to take to the streets en masse. And this is a person who actually has a platform to tell the truth and then sees it ignored or deflected and the messenger’s integrity and ability to report attacked.
Hang on what happened to Jobson Grothe? I could go on but I have had enough, how much longer to we have to put up with these imbeciles?
Andreas Bimba
“Labor are puppets of the capital controlling class,”
“If Nick Xenophon created a truly national party it is conceivable that a green and orange ‘revolution’ could achieve sufficient electoral support to gain office in their own right or with the ALP in a coalition of equals.”
A If Labor are so bad why do you want a Coalition
B Why not just campaign for a Xenophon Greens Alliance
C Have you not read Labor are not interested in Coalitions
As always, I taped The Drum tonight. Three ‘contributors’. One (Rebecca Weiser) was the wife of a ‘bludger’ (the foreign born Nick Cater), defined in terms of a person whose income is largely reliant on the public teat. That the ‘two of them’ (Cater and Rosser) appear on the ABC on a regular basis, without shame, while decrying public funding for almost anything, is always a source of much amusement. As usual her mantra was: It’s all Labor’s fault. Shorten is hopeless. Turnbull is ..
The second contributor was an S Maiden who will go down in history as a ‘drink driver’ who took deliberate action – to repeat her offense within a matter of hours. We should always respect her judgement. But not if we are sober.
The third was someone named Sunil Badami who had the audacity to proudly claim he is of Indian heritage. FFS. Surely he can make excuses for his appearance. He looks so ‘different’. That he, intellectually speaking, completely wiped the floor when it came to ‘preparation’ for debate and also the logic of his arguments is perhaps very unfortunate. Don’t they know their ‘place’?.
Chances are, it will be a long time before he gets another ‘gig’. We need balance!
NѲrses 1968:
Just curious: where does your hostility toward progressivism stem from?
Tribalism is one thing, but it seems in some cases that there’s more behind it than meets the eye.
I have. Again and again. And much of it on this site. Apparently they are only interested in ‘agreements’. Yet I read that:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-30/greens-mla-shane-rattenbury-given-role-in-act-government-cabinet/7978398
Are you embarrassed? And if not then could you ‘please explain’?
And yes I know that ‘agreement’ is spelt differently to ‘coalition’.
I watched Michael Moore’s 1989 film ‘Roger and Me’ today about the decline of Flint Michigan and the closing of so many General Motors plants and thought this really is our future under our current governments that let the corporate sector pursue their own interests without constraint.
Kaye I think your ABC contact is right, it is indeed time to take to the streets en masse or for some sort of active resistance.
Nurses1968 The duopoly as it is now will not get to the heart of our problems, sure Labor are considerably ‘less bad’ than the Coalition but the general drift is the same because the same corporate puppet masters pull the strings. The scenarios I mentioned are a possible acceptable alternative to the duopoly that has so clearly failed. Labor will probably join a coalition when it is too small to rule alone and a coalition of equals should ensure better policies and behaviour from Labor and even from the other coalition partners. Labor has or had an important role to represent the working class and the union movement.
Some marvelous comments up. And it IS possible to learn interesting things from social media.
Cater and Weasel, eh? (smirks).
The government is doing their bit by first identifying the “leaner” groups they will be targeting – single parents with four children aged 6, 8, 10 and 13 who receive no child support, and full-time carers aged between 18 and 18 and a half. Having identified these groups, they are working on a way to shame them into employment.
But they have had great success with one group of the unemployed. Attorney general George Brandis has found jobs for an enormous number of failed Liberal candidates, unemployed political staffers, and party donors on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, with some of the jobs worth more than $300,000 per year.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/a-brandis-stack?utm_term=.lp9g6rGbm#.ai2dMb54p
Who says the government doesn’t create jobs – George seems pretty good at it – just ask his little friend Tim Wilson (and Tim’s adviser Louise Bygrave).
Weiser and Cater, WOW, what a joyous coupling, if one is too much to take, what about two of them together…
As for ABC, it’s literally all FUN and CAMES now, but sadly most of times not funny at all….
As usual, John Kelly is completely wrong in his assessment and once more shown his ignorance of the physical realities that are affecting our and the global economy.
It is “cheap” and abundant energy that is required and what we had of it, we squandered and no amount of fiat creation nor government spending can replace it.
Harquebus what could be better than free energy once you invest in renewables? Not even taking in the huge numbers of deaths due to fossil fuel use it’s a no-brainer. Tesla already has a fully renewable solution ready with solar roof tiles, power wall and an electric car plus renewable utilities. Watch this announcement video: https://youtu.be/dRqSkR4ENAg
Sussan Ley was simply doing the groundwork for the future plans of the neo-conservatives, ie, governments will no longer create jobs because there will be no public services or assets left, everything will be privatised.
Jason
Solar and wind energy is free but, the inefficient devices used to collect them are not. EROEI mate, EROEI.
I will watch your video.
Cheers.
This government can’t see beyond the nose on its face. Its appraoch to so-called welfare is obnoxious and ideological. Have any of these the coalition codgers ever needed financial assistance. I guess not.
Corpocracy: A society subject to indirect rule by corporations via complicit governments. It is becoming the global norm.
From Oxford Dictionary
noun: Originally: corporate governance; the dominant culture or cultural dominance of large commercial organisations;
(later also) corporate bureaucracy; the internal organisation of a large company, especially characterised as overly hierarchical, bureaucratic, or conservative.
Origins: 1930s. From corp- + -cracy.
Pronunciation: /kɔːˈpɒkrəsi/ (rhymes with “hypocrisy”)
See: Mussolini, Corporatism, Fascism
“The Commonwealth of Australia” is no longer a democracy in any real sense. It is has become “The Corpocracy of Australia”.
Yes exactly! Quietly observing a new neighbour, young chap who has moved for work here from the Sunny Coast where I would have thought work prospects would be better, however, it would appear that he gets no more than 20 hours a week. Based on his work as a mower/gardener at a retirement village I guess if he gets $25 ph after tax and medicare levy he is probably not much better off take home pay than if he were on benefits and certainly worse off if was on disability or carer benefits. He has car rego, rent and power, big ticket items on this meagre income. So where is the incentive? Why not simply give this young man and others like him a real chance, how about some extra govt. support, reduced tax etc to keep him keen to work. Or simply change the 2nd job penalty that was brought in many years ago. Once keen workers held two or more jobs but some smart arse changed all of that so you could only use the Tax File No. for 1 job. Extra employment 30% tax was imposed. This stopped people from being keen to get ahead. Sure, some of it is returned at the end of June but the whole idea of working harder for a constant increase in income, which is used up each week either in consumer goods, or debt payments was stopped. I can see this young man when his power bill comes in changing his mind about his rental situation for shared rental. How else will he get ahead. As a worker myself, always fulltime employment and 6 days a week, 13 hr a day self employed even with limited education was able to get ahead. Not everyone is capable of getting a uni degree for one reason or other. I feel sad that Australia will in the future have a larger wealth divide the poor etc only to be persecuted by our disgusting, pork barrelling, war mongering, dysfunctional, brainless, deceptive and any other negative adjective politicians.
Well said Jeanette
Particularly the penalties placed on people for holding down more than one job – which would not be necessary if minimum wage was actually liveable.
Another example of our government leeching off people simply trying to keep a roof over their heads.
Jeanette, really good comment that shows how tough life is for the working poor. Yes we are heading for greater wealth disparity and unemployment/underemployment under neoliberalism.
People still believe the lies as the Conservatives were re-elected.
We know how to have a dynamic economy with full employment, greater equality and that can rapidly transition to environmental sustainability. Just combine Professor Bill Mitchell’s macroeconomic policy with Australian Greens policy and a bit of Professor Goran Roos’ economic development policy with some moderate trade protection policy and I have no doubt this will work exceedingly well.
Will a sufficient number of people vote for this? Not currently with the Greens stuck at 10% of the primary vote.
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A friend suggested “jobs and growth” was a non-core promise.