Posted February 10, 2020 10:05:56 The Government’s $9.2 billion stimulus deal, which included a $2.3 billion stimulus for the manufacturing sector, did not significantly slow the country’s economic slide.
It also did not provide any relief to the banking sector, which is still in trouble.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has called the deal a failure, saying it does not address the root causes of the financial crisis.
“The fact that this deal was not enacted and implemented is not because the ALP is doing a good job of it.
The Government has not done a good enough job of managing the housing bubble,” said the union’s president Andrew Miller.
“If you are going to spend $8 billion on a stimulus package, it is not enough.
We want to see a real investment program.”
Mr Miller said the package did not address Australia’s long-term unemployment problem.
“I don’t think the ALP will be able to put a dent in the long-standing unemployment problem,” he said.
“It is just a distraction from the fact that we have a serious housing crisis and it has got to be addressed, and that is not going to happen without a massive amount of investment.”
The government has promised to spend another $4 billion on infrastructure, and said it will invest $7.5bn in a new super fund, and $1 billion in new public housing.
The Coalition is also promising $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending over the next five years, and it wants to increase infrastructure spending by an extra $1 trillion over the same period.
The government will also commit $1bn over the coming three years to help rebuild the nation’s ageing infrastructure.
It is also aiming to build 5 million new jobs over the course of the next decade.
The budget also included a plan to extend the GST into 2021, and to introduce a minimum wage increase.
The ABC has sought comment from the Treasury, but has not yet received a response.
The Federal Government has been pushing for a $1 per cent boost to the GST, saying the economy would benefit more than $20 billion a year.
But a Treasury spokesperson said the Government had already committed $1billion in infrastructure investment and $700 million in a super fund for the banking and insurance sectors.
Labor says the $9 billion in stimulus package was a major step forward, and would have given the Australian economy a much-needed boost to help prevent a recurrence of the housing boom.
“We were confident the Government was going to deliver on this,” Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Leigh said.
But he said it was a step too far for the Government.
“When the Government talks about creating jobs, they don’t really mean they’re creating jobs for Australians,” he told the ABC.
“They’re creating the jobs that they need to create the jobs.”
