The Liberal Party do have a plan for jobs. Whether it will work is another matter. This, according to them, is the list of their achievements contributing to job creation so far:
✓ Repealed the Carbon Tax
This was supposed to save households $550 a year (for one year anyway).
Kevin Andrews gleefully announced that they had increased defence spending by another $9.9 billion in the last budget. For the 9 million households in Australia that represents $1100 per household. He also said that “Since its election, the Government has invested more than $22 billion in Defence capability projects.” That represents almost $1000 for every man woman and child in the country.
And this doesn’t include our war in Syria or our new paramilitary Border Force.
Add this to the revenue turnaround between collecting $7 billion from polluters to paying them $3 billion and I think we can safely say that any saving a household got through slightly lower electricity prices has been well and truly spent on war and “national security”.
✓ Repealed the Mining Tax
Since the mining tax was repealed we have seen a huge drop in investment in mining and thousands of job losses, a decline that is projected to continue. We also lost the benefits that were attached to the MRRT like the increase in the superannuation guarantee.
✓ Agreed Free Trade Agreements with China, Korea and Japan
The FTAs have contributed to the death of manufacturing in this country and the write down of billions in revenue over the forward estimates. The concerns about foreign workers are justified considering Andrew Robb admitted that 84% of the current 457 visa workers were not subject to labour market testing and that situation will remain.
✓ Announced $2.45 billion in annual red tape savings
These savings are hilarious. People buying prepaid mobile phones will only have to go through the identity check once, not twice. They say that will save $6.2 million. Rejigging the e-tax website so the data entered the previous year shows up will supposedly cut costs by $156 million. Another interesting one was claiming a $17 million saving by scrapping regulations that banned people using mobile devices on take-off and landing in planes. One of the acts they got rid of was one that required you to provide your mule or bullock for military purposes. Many of the changes were about punctuation or grammar.
✓ Established the $484.2 million Entrepreneurs Infrastructure Programme
To make way for the Entrepreneur’s Infrastructure Programme the Coalition axed eight other government initiatives including Commercialisation Australia, the Innovation Investment Fund, Industry Innovation Councils and Enterprise Connect. Shuttering the existing programs from January 2015 will deliver savings of about $845.6 million over five years, the government estimates.
✓ Created new employment opportunities through a $50 billion commitment to transport infrastructure
Making announcements does not create employment for anyone but the spin doctors. Actual infrastructure spending has basically dried up
✓ Established a new $6.8 billion jobactive employment services package, commencing 1 July 2015
Once again, creating an employment service provider does not create any jobs except for the service provider
✓ Delivered a comprehensive reform package for the VET sector
Reforms without resources aren’t much use. This sector remains severely under resourced and the reforms do nothing to address teacher training and skills.
✓ Introduced Restart – a wage subsidy to help Australians aged over 50 to find employment
In January, the Guardian reported that, in the first six months, only 510 employers had taken up the scheme, which was projected to help about 32,000 a year.
✓ Established the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman
✓ Expanded tax concessions for Employee Share Schemes
✓ Begun to introduce changes to support crowd-funding
✓ Extended unfair contract term protections to small business
I can’t see how any of those last four create jobs.
They then go on to laud their $5.5 billion jobs and small business package.
- 1.5% tax cut for small companies ($1.45 billion)
- 5% tax discount for small unincorporated business capped at $1,000 pa per individual ($1.8 billion)
- Immediate deductibility on every asset costing less than $20,000 for two years ($1.75 billion)
- Measures to help young disengaged youth become job ready ($331 million)
- Measures to encourage job seekers to look for work ($25 million)
- Measures to help employers take on unemployed job seekers ($19 million)
- Measures to cut red tape for businesses – work-related portable electronic devices will be FBT free ($40 million)
- Measures to encourage start-ups and entrepreneurship ($70 million)
Tax cuts and incentives for business might put a small amount of money back into the business owners’ hands but it does nothing to create demand or bring in the new customers that would necessitate extra staff. Encouraging young people and helping them to be work prepared is good, but it doesn’t add to the number of jobs available.
With interest rates so low (or even without if you are an MMTer), we should be investing in nation building infrastructure, in social reform that improves productivity, in preventive health and quality aging, in education and research that prepare us for our future, in lifting people from poverty and providing them with affordable housing, in public transport, renewable energy and other sustainable industries.
We should be increasing our public spending, not on war and border protection, but on things that will make our lives better now and prepare us for the changes that automation and climate change and finite resources will demand.
The good old and utterly failed theory of “trickle-down economics”.
Only a dyscalculia of a treasurer promoted by a despotic government could be catastrophically imbecilic enough to adopt this kind of reckless model to run the Australian economy. Literally everything Staple Guts touches, and literally every decision he makes as treasurer turns to shit. May the the LNP be damned to a place infinity worse than hell.
The world is being prepared for war. The fear and greed motive is driving the controllers and their agents for the prize of developing the assets in the Russian heartland. US General Wesley Clark laid it out in public “We’re going to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran..” Video Interview with General Wesley Clark. Captain Chaos and the other Five Eyes leaders are working from the same hymn book, helping to make it happen! People are waking up now, so I believe karma will prevail.
Yup, wot PC said.
Was going to drone on about nation building versus defense spending – maybe tomorrow.
Challenged by Leigh Sales on 7:30 it is easy to see why Abbott retreated into a fog and was unable to give any reply or fabricate any plan because he is everywhere confounded by the facts. It was a dismal performance which suggested, among other snippets of madness, that the economy was doing well because he had stopped the boats. And the justification for imprisonment of refugees is that it disrupts the people-smuggler business model.
It looked and sounded as if he was on medication. Each question was answered by the party-line rant. It was as if he had learned this catechism and was set to recite it over and over, no matter what. It was not the kind of performance we would expect – or desire – from a Prime Minister of the country. It makes us wonder why he is.
Your article here must be giving him night-mares. He certainly looks haunted. And no wonder!
Due to the wretched ideology of the Liberal National Party, a Party which is made up of such badly messed-up people, it will be very difficult to remedy their poison inflicted on Australians by any sensible means. I keep hoping that by the end of their term in office, with luck on the side of human solidarity, the LNP will have largely wiped each other out come the next election.
@guest …
I sure hope he IS on medication – cos he sure as hell needs it. … from what can be seen.
In terms of watching a person unfold and disintegrate – I almost feel sorry for him. …. However, I refuse to fall for that. …. the rabbutt is in the position he wants, and must take the consequences. …
That is, until they remove him, kicking and screaming ( perhaps ) from his lofty, now self imposed and impossible position.
If ( as I and many suspect ) he is in fact failing in the cerebrum area, then it behoves his party to remove him, very quickly – for our sake — and for his sake.
To Kaye Lee …
You have answered fully, and rebutted, many of the rabbutts feeble attempts on the 7.30 report last night.
Good onya for that, and for a well written and researched article.
The article title, is rather “Field of Dreams”-ish … which was a fantasy / drama, and is rather what the incumbent whatever-he-is ( pee-em ? ) bases his entire rhetoric on. ….i.e. Fantasy and drama. …
Don’t think I have to elaborate on that to anyone 😉
Thank you, Kaye.
You hit the nail very squarely on the head, Kaye Lee.
Good article.
May the mad monk rot and his evil brood rot in the lowest reaches of hell for eternity.
They will go down in history as Australia’s biggest fluck-ups ever.
If the trickle down effect works, how is it that the trickle of Gina’s wealth doesn’t even reach her own children?
You left out the $2.5 billion spent on the refugee program also the $55 million spent on four asylum seekers to Cambodia, http://www.smh.com.au/world/refugee-wants-to-quit-cambodia-following-australias-controversial-55million-deal-20150906-gjgg25.html .http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-31/cambodia-deal-dutton-denies-more-refugees-not-being-resettled/6737528, Can this right wing government get any worse I think not sadly sadly for Australia. NB maybe they could be the new Fab Four or new Beatles LOL.
I agree 100% with David Bruce the powerful and the greedy are all for the next world war,https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/09/10/syri-s10.htmlhttps://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/09/01/kore-s01.html
Could set up a 7-11 too.
I expected things would be bad before the election – I never expected them to be this bad.
Although they did tsay they had a… plan?
thanks Anomander – I’d forgotten about this delightful piece of satire / reporting. good to have a chuckle again. There haven’t been many opportunities since the Rabbot government put their pamphlet into action.
Jeez Kaye Lee. Nailed it again. You are seriously good with your research and presentation. I keep thinking I don’t want to read any more truth about this bunch of …. But then you go and produce yet another compelling read.
How will the trickle down effect work with our (via this rotten government) generous donation from our severely stretched budget to fund the Adani ( and Gina’s) Carmichael mine and Abbott Point coal port?
If you’ve not been following, 13 of the world’s major financial lenders have already rejected funding this project.
All coal profits to this corrupt company and a huge increase in dirty Indian coal ships transporting Tony’s favoured product through our Reef.
Damage to the tourism industry, fishing industries can’t be classed as ‘trickle down’ at least not for taxpayer’s who will be funding this catastrophe.
Maybe it’s a case of ‘trickle up’, a bit like most of Abbott’s “reforms.’
Get Up is calling for submissions to try and stop dredging and dumping on the Reef. Stakeholders are given 5 days to get the submissions written in our Non-environment minister’s attempt to thwart protest and publicity.
Please consider writing your own submission.
Great stuff thanks for posting Anomander I watch Shaun all the time and its got me how I missed that episode or if anyones knows, was it broad casted in North Queensland? i’m thinking it was not, for some reason Hmmm.
What a sad but true list of all the “promises”, lies, alarming “things” this inept government claims to have achieved etc! I never got this fictitious $550 that this idiot keeps prattling on about, the rest of these supposed schemes & rule changes etc amount to virtually nothing! In fact, & this has been proven over time, we have all gone backwards under his supposed “moving forward” government. So much for all his bravado at the time of winning the election, he & his government are liars, tea party, flat earth, right wing, conservative idiots, who DO NOT “deserve” to be in power!