Anthony Albanese comes out of shallows to hook Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison makes a point to Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese during question time on Wednesday. Picture: Gary Ramage

The International Monetary Fund has forced Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg back to the future.

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 Reserve Bank outlooks — has also given Anthony Albanese an opportunity to shift to a more substantive attack over the economy rather than the personal “loose with the truth” line of recent weeks.

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 that the Prime Minister and Treasurer are “floundering”.

This is a real issue for Labor to pursue and one that voters can appreciate. It is also an issue that Morrison can use to revisit the successful strategy of the May election campaign and claim superiority over Labor.

In parliament, Morrison reverted to the Liberal election policy of steady and stable while attacking Labor’s “reckless chaos” of $387bn in new taxes being dumped on a slow economy.

This debate is about Morrison’s competency, Frydenberg’s management 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 as well as its determined commitment to stick to the “plan” of tax cuts being delivered on schedule, infrastructure spending and a balanced budget.

The government sees the failure to deliver a surplus — the first in a decade — as an unacceptable retreat from the promise it made to the people. But it still has to keep the economy growing. A budget surplus in a recession is equally unacceptable.

In contrast, Labor is arguing for fiscal stimulus such as bringing forward more tax cuts — tax cuts the ALP initially opposed — and more infrastructure spending, while saying interest rate cuts are not enough.

These are real issues far removed from a White House guest list and whether Morrison attended a Republican rally with US President 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 Rudd Labor’s handling of the global financial crisis in 2009 on Wednesday, the Opposition Leader said: “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 two 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.”

Morrison’s response was direct and political.

“Labor never learns from its mistakes,” he said.

The Prime Minister declared the Coalition was sticking to the economic plan approved by voters in May that rested on tax cuts, infrastructure spending and a budget surplus.

He also talked about Labor’s $387bn in new taxes proposed at the election, which he said would have “wrecked the economy, wrecked the budget”.

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