The top ten troubles with Taylor’s tenets

Many of the claims made by the Leader of the Liberal Party Angus Taylor As Alan Austin reports, these claims are refuted by clear evidence.

“Australia is in an economic crisis. This may not be immediately obvious, as in previous economic crises such as the GFC and the pandemic. But when you consider our living standards, the crisis is clearly evident.”

This was the beginning of an extremely problematic process speech to Sydney Institute By the man who hopes to become Australia’s next prime minister. Setting the tone for what happened next was the exact opposite of reality.

1. Australia is not in crisis

Since Labor’s first budget Comes into force June 2023, headline inflation It was 9.6%. Minimum wage increased by 23.7% during this period and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABSs) fare price directory 11.7% higher. age pension increased by 13.3%, unemployment benefits 16.7% and Commonwealth rent help 39.4%.

The Coalition’s cost of living crisis is over in 2023.

2. Living standards are rising impressively

Taylor claimed:

“At a time when living standards should have been rising, there has been a catastrophic decline – worse than anywhere else in the developed world.”

The increase in living standards since mid-2023 is among the strongest in the world.

Average Australians now enjoy traveling abroad more trips with a record percentage more than ever before. students they are now attending fee-paying schools, luxury spending is at an all-time high and home loans reached $2,603.7 billion, an unprecedented figure.

Light aircraft sales, recreational purposes boatselectric cars and powerful portable tablets have reached new highs. riding schools and ownership of expensive exotics pets.

Yes, some people are definitely still struggling. But the living standards of the majority have never been higher.

3. Real wages are not falling

Taylor claimed:

“Real wages fell by almost 3%… while real disposable incomes fell by almost 5%.”

Real fees It decreased between June 2021 and June 2023 but has increased since then. The lower the income level, the stronger the real wage increases.

4. Economic growth is among the leaders again

“In each of the last two financial years, Australia has recorded its slowest non-recession economic growth on record.”

This is wrong on several levels.

First, the last two fiscal years were essentially global recessions. While Australia recorded an annual GDP growth rate of 0.89% in June 2024, the UK, Ireland, Finland, Israel and Latvia had just recorded growth. appeared from complete stagnation. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland and Estonia were still together or about to be.

Taylor probably didn’t know this because Australia’s craven media refused to cover it.

Financial Monitor From the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranked the economic growth of 30 developed economies in April. Australia’s GDP growth was rated at 2% this year, placing it seventh among this group. This was the 22nd in 2021 under Coalition rule.

5. Spending did not increase irresponsibly

“In just two years, Anthony Albanese has taken the government to the largest level in 40 years, outside of the pandemic.”

Not true. Spending on GDP under this Government, hawke–Keating In 1984-85 the government was also correcting years of incompetence by the Coalition.

According to the IMF statement Financial MonitorAustralia’s state and federal spending accounts for 39.1% of GDP this year, ranking fifth in the group of 30 under the Coalition, much better than ninth in 2019 (pre-COVID).

6. Debt actually decreased

Taylor complained about the Labor Party:

“…taxes on Australians are being increased today. Meanwhile, Australians’ debt is increasing tomorrow.”

net debt It was 537.4 billion dollars, below 541 billion dollars in May level In April 2022, before Labor took office.

Both clear and gross debt There was a sharp decline in proportion to GDP during the Labor Party era.

7. Productivity did not drop

“Productivity collapsed across all sectors of the economy as inflation intensified once the pandemic ended.”

ABS productivity directory It first crumpled in 2017, long before Labor took office. But real productivity was not decreasing. The problem, as seen in the meeting last August Economic Round TableIt was because the old formula didn’t work anymore.

This is advanced applied economicsbut it may be beyond Angus Taylor.

8. Labor increased wealth creation

“This is a government that believes in wealth redistribution, not wealth creation.”

Pure stupid nonsense. According to this month’s UBS Global Wealth ReportThe average Australian adult’s wealth has increased by 19.3% over last year to US$616,306 (AU$882,400); This ranks among the highest fortunes in the world.

9. The Coalition’s criminal failure during the pandemic

“Facing the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, the Coalition intervened to save businesses and jobs.”

The COVID recession of 2020 wasn’t the worst shock. It was short and sharp and the recovery was quick.

Global Financial Crisis (GFC), on the contrary, it was deep and lasting. Many advanced economies still have not recovered from pre-GFC levels business levelsIncluding Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Italy.

Many OECD countries have completely avoided recession during the pandemic. Under coalition rule, Australia has suffered catastrophically from three quarters of annual GDP growth, soaring inflation and widespread job losses. This caused a prolonged crisis in the Coalition’s cost of living.

The most devastating consequence was the wanton wasteful spending of borrowed money, which completely failed to prevent the recession. Gross debt increased from $530.6 billion to $828.7 billion. morrison, Frydenberg and Taylor. This will cost billions of dollars in wasted interest payments over the coming decades.

10. The Coalition’s record shows it can’t manage this

“Only the Coalition has a strong plan to save Australia. We’ve done it before. We’ll do it again.”

Actual results confirm that the worst period for economic management was 2016-2022 under Scott Morrison. The second worst case is Fraser Government From 1975 to 1983. third Abbott Government From 2013 to 2015.

It’s a shame that newsrooms in Australia refuse to report events accurately, thus encouraging crooked politicians to rewrite history.

Alan Austin is an Independent Australian columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @alanaustin001 and Bluesky @alanaustin.bsky.social.

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