IMF downgrade allows Labor to shift to a substantive attack on Scott Morrison over the economy

PM Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg arrive at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

The International Monetary Fund has provided Anthony Albanese with an opportunity to shift to a more substantive attack on Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg over the economy rather than his personal “loose with the truth” campaign of recent weeks.

And the Labor leader has taken it with both hands.

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At the same time Jim Chalmers, Labor’s Treasury spokesman who has been plugging away at the Coalition’s economic management for months, is relishing the opportunity to declare the Prime Minister and Treasurer are “floundering”.

The IMF’s slashing of global growth outlooks and a cut in its forecast for the Australian economy from 2.1 to 1.7 per cent — below both the Treasury and RBA outlooks — is a real issue for Labor to pursue and one that voters can appreciate.

This is about Morrison’s competency and whether the Australian economy can continue to grow or grow any faster in the face of global shocks.

It also directly links with the Coalition’s handling of the drought and support for struggling farmers.

These are real issues far removed from a White House guest list and whether Morrison attended a Republican rally with Donald Trump or opened an Australian-owned factory in Ohio.

After weeks of accusing Morrison of not answering questions about a Hillsong pastor’s non-attendance at the White House or accusing Morrison of being “Trump’s toadie” or taking “pot shots” at China there is a new Labor collective concentration on the economy.

After praising Labor’s handling of the global financial crisis Wednesday morning Albanese declared: “This Government is going slowly, going soft and going nowhere when it comes to an economic plan. They need to develop an economic plan that grows the economy. They’ve been complacent. We argued, during the tax debate, that they should bring forward stage 2 of the tax cuts”.

Chalmers was even more direct: “These new IMF numbers really do torpedo what was left of the Government’s economic credibility … the time has long passed for the Government to just keep sitting on its hands. The economy is floundering in Australia because the Morrison Government doesn’t have a plan to turn things around.

“What we’re calling for the Government to do is to come forward with a plan. The economy is floundering. The IMF is torpedoing the Government’s economic credibility. The Reserve Bank can’t be left to do all the heavy lifting on its own,” he said.

Apart from the whimsical New Zealand image of Morrison and Frydenberg dressed in waders wandering through the shallow surf with nets and hand spears in hand floundering, Chalmers has concentrated on the economy and Albanese is better off doing the same.