Any parent knows the importance of being able to say no. Sometimes you say no because something is unsafe or unwise. Other times you say no because it is unaffordable or a waste of money. Often it’s a combination of reasons.
Governments need to have the strength to say no, too. Covid-19 has resulted in some eye-watering costs associated with keeping Australians as safe as possible and their jobs as secure as possible. To date, this has amounted to more than $337bn in health and economic support to individuals, households and businesses. We have gone from a balanced budget that was returning to surplus to incurring some of the biggest deficits in Australia’s peacetime history. We can see from many other countries that the health and economic outcomes from Covid could have been so much worse. So could the size of our debt.
The Morrison government has contained spending by making emergency responses temporary, targeted and proportionate. We have refined policies across the two years of the pandemic, from economy-wide measures such as JobKeeper during the first nationwide restrictions in 2020 to more targeted, state-by-state assistance during Delta lockdowns last year. We’ve said no, too, to calls to bail out the then owners of Virgin Australia Airlines or to many other interest groups asking for more help.
Where we had the strength to say no or to scale back emergency support as conditions improved, Labor under Anthony Albanese nearly always called for more spending. Where we said no to Virgin’s owners, Labor called for a bailout. When we said there were limits to JobKeeper, Labor wanted two million more people to be eligible. When we scaled back the rate of JobKeeper and brought it to an end, Labor called for us to keep the rate and extend the program.
Perhaps the most wasteful of all of Labor’s Covid policies was Albanese’s crazy proposal to pay every Australian $300 to get vaccinated. He came up with this $6bn thought bubble when millions of Australians already had a jab. Ninety-four per cent of Australians have demonstrated just how wasteful this policy would have been by getting double dosed for the right reasons without the need for a Labor cash splash.
Most recently, Labor called for free rapid antigen tests. Never mind that testing is free for anyone with Covid symptoms or close contacts, as well as a limited number of RATs for concession card holders; Labor seemed to want anyone to be able to stock up on tests for any reason, at taxpayers’ expense. When pressed, Albanese has never been able to say how many RATs people would be eligible for under his policy or how much it would cost.
Analysis of just six of Labor’s reckless calls for longer, larger or additional spending shows they would cost a further $81bn. That’s $81bn of additional debt Albanese and his team would have had taxpayers unnecessarily incur.
Just because Covid has caused government to incur expenditure on a scale not previously contemplated doesn’t mean caution isn’t necessary. Every new spending decision should be considered against its need, quality and cost. Our approach has allowed Australia to respond to Covid while being one of nine countries to maintain a triple AAA credit rating.
The $81bn of unnecessary spending Labor would have had us incur is demonstration that the party lacks the strength to say no and the judgment on where to draw the line. It’s the same old Labor way of big, wasteful spending, where every noisy special interest is greeted with largesse and any perceived problem warrants more cash being thrown at it.
The last time Labor was in charge of Australia’s purse strings we saw billions wasted on unnecessary school halls and a disastrous home insulation program. Labor’s big spending missteps during Covid-19 show it has learned nothing from its mistakes, which lead only to higher debt and taxes.
Simon Birmingham is a senator of South Australia and the Finance Minister.
Read related topics:Anthony Albanese