Just as night follows day, whenever a new government takes control, the first week always throws up the complaint that the state of the economy is worse than we were led to believe. Labor has not disappointed. What they forgot to mention is the full details of the economy was made public prior to the election date.
The new treasurer and the finance minister have both made vague references to the state of the economy and lay the blame on the previous government. When it was pointed out that the bureaucrats in Treasury were the ones who drew up the state of the economy they went to water and said that it was beyond the forward estimates that was the problem.
It is noted that the bulk of the problems with the economy is the extra spending by the government to maintain employment throughout the Covid crisis, a move that was not only supported by the opposition but was challenged as wrong by them when the government cut off the financial support.
What is of concern is both the treasurer and the finance minister have said that they need to “have a conversation” with the Australian people. This is as predictable as the economy complaint and usually means that the promises prior to the election will need to be changed and certainly not changed in the favour of the voters.
The priorities by Labor leading up to the election were cost of living and wages yet the first things done have been to bring an illegal family back to Queensland (on a bridging visa, not a full visa), talking of an indigenous change to the Constitution, talk about climate change and flying Penny Wong around the Pacific. They will seek permission to make a submission on pay to Fair Work Australia as the time for submissions has passed but will not put forward a percentage increase to support their submission.
Oh, and just finally, the trumpeting by the deputy leader about turning back the boats was a very hollow claim. None of the Labor members had been sworn in when that occurred and therefore could not be in any position to change the laws. The boat was turned back under the laws enacted by the previous government
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