Scare campaign rolled out as LNP takes eye off the ball

We should be very concerned about the high youth unemployment figures and its social impacts.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney, Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Picture: MICK TSIKAS

WHILE the Morrison Government was busy trying to whip up a scare campaign that an incoming Labor Government would take us into recession, we have slipped into a 'per capita' GDP recession - the first since 2006 which happened on their watch.

Nobody wants a recession with the heartache of job losses, business failures and the inequality that brings.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has released a paper using Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing that living standards have declined significantly and inequality has risen since 2015.

The paper says that entrenched inequality leads to declining "occupational social mobility” and those at the bottom of the income ladder have little chance of moving upward.

Therefore, we should be very concerned about the high youth unemployment figures and its social impacts.

Nearby Wide Bay is among the top 20 areas of high youth unemployment, while some areas of the Sunshine Coast have higher youth unemployment than others.

For some time now the governor of the Reserve Bank has said that low wages growth is a problem which has now manifested in a recession.

If you don't have the money you can't spend, and consumer spending is what makes our economy healthy. Under the current Government's watch, wages have flatlined and penalty rates have been slashed.

The governor also says the minimum wage and Newstart need to be increased.

The ACTU report warns that under the Morrison Government we are heading towards an American-style economy, with less full-time jobs and job insecurity, low wages and a poor safety net for the disadvantaged.

The Liberal National Government has taken its eyes off the ball.

They are too busy saving their own jobs and internal machinations to steer the economy in the right direction and govern for the good of the nation.

ROBYN DEANE

Bli Bli

Originally published as Scare campaign rolled out as LNP takes eye off the ball