Scott Morrison is asking the Australian people “Who do you trust?” – a gutsy approach from a man who has earned the sobriquet ‘Liar from the Shire’.
Do you trust the man who draped his arm around his leader, grinning innocently as he proclaimed “I’m ambitious for this guy” whilst his backroom boys were organising a coup?
Do you trust the man who left the country in flames to sip cocktails poolside in Hawaii, had his office deny it, and then excused it by saying he doesn’t hold a hose, mate?
Morrison claims he is the better economic manager. This was initially based on false claims of having delivered a surplus. Instead, we got the first recession in thirty years and debt levels unprecedented outside of wars.
After having said “governments don’t create jobs, businesses do”, Morrison is now claiming credit for creating 1.9 million jobs since they were elected in 2013.
Between September 2013 and February 2022, Australia’s population increased by 2.7 million people so that growth in jobs is basically just population growth.
Morrison also claims credit for an unemployment rate of 4%.
Antipoverty Centre analysis of ABS and Department of Social Services data shows that while the unemployment rate has not been this low since before the global financial crisis in 2008 when it was also 4%, the proportion of working age people who rely on an unemployment payment has nearly doubled – from 3.3% in mid-2008 compared to about 5.9% today.
The lack of skilled migration and temporary visas due to the borders being closed as well as the neglect of domestic skills training has led to a labour shortage. This, combined with supply chain disruptions, pent up demand after lockdowns, soaring energy prices, and huge government spending, has led to inflation rising quicker than expected.
The ongoing spending in the budget was a contributing factor in a larger than expected interest rate rise – the first of many according to the RBA signalling bad news to those who overcommitted to get into a red-hot housing market.
Morrison’s government has overestimated wages growth in 53 out of 55 predictions. Three years ago, then Federal Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, described low wage growth as “a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture.” And now we find real wages going backwards.
Do you trust the man who advocated for getting rid of penalty rates but says he can’t advocate for wage rises in the care sector or a rise in the minimum wage?
Do you trust the man who oversaw the illegal Robodebt program but who wouldn’t recoup JobKeeper paid to profitable businesses?
And then there’s national security.
Do you trust the man who has alienated Pacific leaders due to his arrogant dismissal of their concerns on climate change and patriarchal assumption that we are their best friend?
Do you trust the man who has chosen to declare a hairy-chested media war on our biggest trading partner?
Do you trust the man that has spent billions on cancelled defence contracts?
Do you trust the man that the French leader labelled a liar?
We are told that Morrison’s strength is his confident focus on message. But which message?
Do we trust the man who, in April 2018 told us that “The days of subsidising energy are over whether it’s for coal, wind solar, any of them. That is the way I think you get the best functioning energy market with the lowest possible price for businesses and for households and that is what the national energy guarantee and our energy policies are deigned to achieve.”
Or do we trust the man who, less than five months later, said “The Neg is dead, long live reliability guarantee, long live default prices, long live backing new power generation,” and promptly started throwing money at gas companies, even deciding to build his own gas-powered generator.
Do we trust the man who said electric vehicles would “end the weekend” because they would not “tow your trailer”?
“It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family… I mean if you have an electric car and you live in an apartment, are you going to run the extension cord down from your fourth floor window?”
Or do we trust the man who, when he rolled out his own policy two years later, denied he attacked electric vehicles before the last election, stating “new technology” led to his newfound interest?
Do we trust the man who said equity loans were a good thing, or the one who rubbished the scheme saying “every time you go to Bunnings” to improve the home you would need to inform Canberra?
Morrison certainly has chutzpah, I’ll give him that.
But trust him?
YGBSM
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