MYEFO: Labor says uncertainty looms for millions of Australians
Labor says the improvement in the Morrison government’s budget bottom line will fail to give certainty to millions of Australians ahead of the end of the JobKeeper payments in March.
Labor says the improvement in the Morrison government’s budget bottom line will fail to give certainty to millions of Australians ahead of the end of the JobKeeper payments in March.
Business and industry bodies also urged the government to push ahead with productivity enhancing reforms to workplace laws and the tax system to help drive the economic recovery and offset the withdrawal of emergency relief measures in early 2021.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said the government’s mid-year budget update did not offer a solution for the extra 90,000 Australians he said would be out of work in March, when unemployment is forecast to peak.
“The economy is recovering, but it isn’t rebounding strongly or quickly enough for the 2.2 million Australians who still don’t have a job or can’t find the hours they need to support their loved ones,” he said in Canberra.
“Without a plan for unemployment or underemployment, today’s mid-year budget update is yet another marketing exercise”
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the economic “comeback continues”, backing the private sector to “take over the heavy lifting” and lead the recovery. “To do this, we have to drive new investment across the country with the right tax incentives, stop the antiquated industrial relations system working against job creation, wind back unnecessary red tape, get big infrastructure projects happening quickly and fix the skills system so Australians can get the high-paid jobs they want,” she said.
“A business-led recovery is essential to securing the futures of all Australians.”
Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable said high iron ore prices had boosted company tax receipts by $3.4bn compared to the October 6 budget forecasts and contributed to the $16bn improvement to the bottom line in 2020-21.
“Treasury expects mining exports to grow by 5 per cent in 2021-22,” she said. “The budget update highlights the importance of stable and mutually beneficial trade to Australian jobs, incomes and government revenue.”
Mr Chalmers said the update failed to tackle pre-existing issues in the economy such as insecure work and stagnant wages. “All of these issues which were slowing the economy before COVID-19, we will just go back to that if the government continues down their ideological path,” he said.
He pointed to the government’s recent industrial relations reform package, saying it would cut worker’s take-home pay by diluting employee protections through changes to exemptions to the Fair Work Act’s better-off-overall test.
“You’d have to be pretty messed up, ideologically, to see the even weaker wages growth in this mid-year update and think the solution is more pay cuts. But that’s what this government is embarking on as we speak.”
The Australian Council of Social Services said an expected March withdrawal of the wage subsidy would leave people financially insecure in the new year.
“With 226,000 more people unemployed than there were in March, the government is slashing income support, axing responsible lending laws and eviction moratoriums are set to come to an end,” ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said.
She said the update “missed a key opportunity” to fund social housing to create jobs and boost economic recovery.
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