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✓ Repealed the Carbon Tax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✓ Repealed the Mining Tax
Since the mining tax was repealed we have seen a huge drop in investment in mining and thousands of job losses, a decline that is projected to continue.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.
