
Strange how ex AG Cash can claim credit for a stat without being specific about what the LNP decisions were that caused low unemployment. The pandemic not the LNP was to blame. The clamp of students, skilled, workers and Immigration was a decision forced on the LNP by Covid and not a proactive decision to reduce unemployment. It was a decision forced on Morrison after the Ruby Princess debacle. We certainly weren’t party to their wisdom at the time and it was an act instep globally.
What isn’t claimed as credit however is the degree of underemployment hidden in the figures. Something the Liberals stay silent on. They cut penalty wages and watched the income gap widen. They even fought against the reason for the 5.2% minimum wage rise necessary to diminish the actual wage loss the poorest workers suffered under their management. The real hidden unemployment figure that has been suggested is closer to 10% and the quality of employment is suffering.
A pair of high-ranking former Coalition ministers — including WA Senator Michaelia Cash — have claimed credit for Australia’s record low unemployment rate while attempting to dodge responsibility for the energy crisis engulfing the east coast.
Ms Cash, the Shadow Employment and Workplace Relations Minster, and Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the nation’s 3.9 per cent jobless rate in May, confirmed by the ABS on Thursday, was evidence the economy inherited by recently elected Prime Minster Anthony Albanese was “in good shape”.
“The only reason you have an unemployment rate that has remained steady today at 3.9 per cent with the creation of 60,000 jobs… is because of the decisions that the former Coalition government took when they were in office,” Ms Cash said.