Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has hit out at the Labor government for their “telling statement” about where their priorities lie within last week’s federal budget.
Speaking at the National Press Club a week after Jim Chalmers handed down his first budget, Mr Taylor accused Labor of breaking promises and not doing enough to target skyrocketing inflation.
He also used his speech to suggest the government was playing politics with its funding.
“NSW, our largest state, is receiving less funding than Victoria, Queensland or the Northern Territory,” he said.
“This is a telling statement about the government’s priorities, about the blatantly political set of decisions.
“This government is abandoning the regions to rewards it supports.”
Mr Taylor used his address to warn that Labor would continue to play politics with its plans to introduce “extreme” industrial relations reforms, as highlighted in the budget.
He said while the coalition joined the government in wanting higher real wages, Labor’s attempt to introduce widespread changes went against the wishes of business.
In his broad-ranging address, Mr Taylor accused the government of breaking its promises to help ease cost-of-living pressures against a backdrop of 7.3 per cent inflation.
“In terms of broken promises, there are many,” Mr Taylor said.
“The biggest broken promise (though) is one the Prime Minister made before the election. The promise that no one would be held back and no one would be left behind.
“This is a budget that tells Australians the government knows it’s tough but doesn’t have solutions.
“It’s a budget that tells Australians pain is coming and leaves them on their own to deal with.”
Mr Taylor brushed off claims the former government, in which he was the energy minister, was in part to blame for the current unfolding crisis.
“The economy is, at a macro-level, in a very strong position. The Australians economy is fundamentally resilient,” he said.
“Just two years ago we were staring down the prospect of permanent business closures, tens of thousands of deaths and the unemployment rate of 15 per cent. Today we have more businesses, strong terms of trade, record commodity prices, economic growth over 3 per cent and record low unemployment.
“The Coalition left Labor with a strong economy.
“The test for the budget was simple. Overwhelmingly, the budget was a missed opportunity … It could have been a lot better.”
