Treasurer Jim Chalmers has confirmed today how badly the economy has deteriorated under Labor, with a stunning admission on productivity that points to a lost decade for Australian living standards.
In a speech to the Australian Business Economists today, the Treasurer said:
"When we came to Government, I accepted Treasury's advice to downgrade the assumption from 1.5 to 1.2 per cent … Treasury thinks there is now more uncertainty over the long term direction of productivity than there has been in the past. Previously, it expected productivity to return to trend within two years. Now it expects that convergence to take closer to five."
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the Treasurer's own words confirmed what Australians are already experiencing.
"Jim Chalmers has admitted what Australians already know. Living standards are going backwards and he has no plan to fix it," Mr Taylor said.
"What we heard wasn't an economic vision, it was an economic admission of failure.
"That is why we need a government prepared to protect Australians way of life and to restore their living standards."
On coming to government, Jim Chalmers downgraded Australia's productivity outlook. That decision was an early warning sign of where living standards were heading under Labor.
Now, nearly four years on, after productivity has fallen by close to five per cent on his watch, the Treasurer is conceding it will take five years just to return to that already downgraded level.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Jane Hume said the Treasurer's admission showed Labor had abandoned the reform task required to lift productivity.
"After nearly four years in office, the government is no longer even pretending it has a plan to lift productivity," Senator Hume said.
"Nine months on from a much-hyped productivity roundtable, all Australians have been given is lower expectations and no meaningful reform."
Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson said the Treasurer's comments confirmed the government has no credible plan to restore living standards.
"The Treasurer is running down the economy and today has confirmed standards of living will not lift for the next five years," Mr Wilson said.
"What Australian small and family businesses and the self-employed need is hope but what the Treasurer is delivering is new taxes."
Australians need a government prepared to take responsibility and implement serious economic reform to restore growth and lift living standards.
