What we don’t need is to waste hundreds of billions on obsolete weapons of mass destruction, billions on consultants and government advertising, and politicians who think attending sporting matches is more important than their day job.
We don’t need a surplus. We need someone who has a clue about how to invest in this country rather than their own political future.
via MYEFO will be interesting – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Campbell and Shields argue that Norway reaps the rewards from “direct ownership” of oil and gas fields, with global revenue of $46bn from the petroleum industry in 2019 compared with the $1.2bn Australia received from PRRT in 2017-18.
“As a result of the Australian government’s decision to raise little revenue from the exploitation of its oil and gas resources, drilling in the Bight is effectively a no-win proposition for Australia and the communities along its south coast,” the report said.
“While Australians are being asked to shoulder all of the economic and environmental risk of the project, a foreign government is likely to enjoy much of the financial gain.”
The retail sector is now in its third year of per capita recession and it’s not just the internet to blame. Alan Austin unpacks the latest retail sales data and how it reflects Australia’s poor economic management.
Tax Cut Flop: 1080 fails to revive torpid retail sector – Michael West
Five people died at a children’s hospital in Scotland built by Brookfield, billions have been stripped offshore in Australian assets, yet Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has approved the sale of the nursing home and retirement village business Aveo. It will be controlled in Bermuda. This follows the Brookfield takeover of 43 Australian hospitals.
Coalition response
According to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg,
“What we’re doing to ensure the economy continues to grow is providing the biggest tax cuts that this country has seen in more than two decades and we did that against the will of the Labor Party …”
That is precisely the wrong response. Tax cuts going mostly to the rich simply send income and wealth straight offshore. Hence the current retail crisis, slower growth and, now, the currency crumbling.
Comparisons with the recent pastIt should not be like this. When the global financial crisis whacked the world in late 2008, Australia’s economic management was seen as innovative, courageous and successful. Evidence that Australia’s economy was the world’s best-performed from 2009 to 2013 included the dollar’s strong appreciation.
Over the full term of the Rudd/Gillard Labor Governments, the dollar rose 4.5% against the Hong Kong dollar, 4.8% against the US dollar, 10.3% against the Canadian dollar, 19.4% against the Euro, 24.2% against the Korean won, and a thumping 38.1% against the British pound.There is no sign the Morrison Government is heeding this message from the watching world. It seems determined to continue governing primarily for foreign corporations. So Australians should plan to take their next holiday at the nearest caravan park.
Australia’s defence department gave tens of thousands of dollars of work to a US firm blacklisted for corruption and bribery.
Defence last year contracted US firm Lock N Climb to provide it with $25,000 of specialist ladders used for aircraft maintenance. The work was awarded through a limited tender process, meaning other firms were restricted from competing for the contract.
Guardian Australia can reveal that the company was – and still is – blacklisted by the US and barred from working with American government agencies.
Making Students Pay Forward not investing in their future but ours. (ODT)
The Money Managers the LNP
More than 136,000 young Australians are soon to join the ranks of 617,000 former students who are repaying their Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) – formerly known as HECS debt – as the income threshold for repaying the debt is slashed to just $45,881.
‘Repay debt for years’: loan changes to hit 136,000 students
Three long years, three crazy weeks, nine national disasters
The Coalition lacks policies. It also lacks charisma. It has no other option but fear, writes Ben Eltham.
Labor has spent years honing and sandbagging its policy platform, which on any sensible judgment is moderate and achievable. In contrast, the Coalition has spent the last three years consumed by its own internal hatreds. Now that the crisis has arrived, the Coalition finds itself without a coherent assault plan to break down Labor’s platform. Time is running out.
via Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself… And A Coalition Campaign Built On It – New Matilda
$80,million Spent like water (ODT)
Guardian Australia reported this week on the mystery surrounding the reason Joyce chose the companies he did for the buybacks. On Friday, Labor raised specific questions about one of the purchases, worth $80m.
On Saturday, Hanson-Young said she would write to the auditor general requesting an urgent audit.
“The auditor has a responsibility to investigate how $80m of taxpayers money was paid for water that doesn’t exist,” she said in a tweet.
Scamming your money to promote herself? (ODT)
Downer was rightly universally condemned for her actions, but think about what her action suggests. Firstly, she considered taxpayers’ funds her own to claim and present (the novelty cheque clearly said the Liberal Party on it and had her image printed on it as well). This betrays how the Liberals think about taxpayers’ funds — the funds belong to them, not the public. Which is why the Libs loathe welfare. Any welfare payment made is effectively less money in the pool for them to rort.
Secondly, under the media cover of wall-to-wall coverage of Cardinal Pell’s conviction of paedophilia charges, the Liberals quietly changed the rules around how sitting MPs can use their taxpayer-funded office expenses for political advertising in the lead-up to the election. Again, this rule change takes taxpayers’ funds and allows them to be used by the Liberal Party for political advertising, something in the past they’d have to pay for themselves. Given that in the Victoria State Election the Liberals ran much of their campaign claiming that the Victoria Labor Government was corrupt for accidentally using taxpayer-paid office staff for campaigning (the red shirts scandal), this is hypocritical in the extreme.
via Wren’s week: Liberal use of taxpayers’ funds and Pell’s support group
Mr Turnbull’s break-even point, therefore, if he wants to claim the Coalition has maintained employment relative to comparable countries, is 12,752,000 people employed. Above that, he can assert he has improved Australia’s standing. Below that, he must accept that he has allowed Australia’s employment fortunes to slip.
At just 12,501,000 people in jobs, he has, in fact, facilitated a dramatic slide.
via Australia slides further down the global rankings on jobs and growth
Already this year, Australians have been confronted with a new barrage of statistics, re-confirming that we are indeed living in a starkly unequal society. The richest 1% now own more wealth than the bottom 70% combined. Growth for workers’ wages has slowed to record lows. Our underemployment rate – 8.4% – is now higher than almost anywhere else in the OECD. And we learned recently that homelessness has jumped 14% since the last census.
via How Our Govt Help The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Poorer – New Matilda
There is now no doubt about who runs Australia’s economy better. Econometrics writer Alan Austin updates the data.
Source: Australia’s Coalition — worst economic managers in the Western world
In both Greece and Japan, excessive debts will have to be reduced by means previously regarded as unthinkable, writes Adair Turner.
Source: Will these countries ever repay their debts? | World Economic Forum
