the end, the next election will come down to one thing above all. Will the Abbott Government have saved us from a fall in our living standards, caused in part by six years of Labor waste?
The head of Tony Abbott’s Business Advisory Council, Maurice Newman, gives a heartfelt speech putting the cards on the table:
... he spoke of losing his ‘’political virginity’’ by throwing his lot in with the Coalition after years having ‘’voted for and worked for both sides’’…
‘’However having watched five long years of reckless spending, economic waste, class warfare particularly aimed at business and the mindless destruction of Australia’s international competitiveness, I thought I had a civic duty to stand up.’’
‘’I have seen and heard nothing since the election to question that judgment,’’ he said. ‘’Indeed I am shocked that so much economic damage can be inflicted in just six years.’’
‘’Labor’s commitments to its ‘better schools’ plan and the national disability insurance scheme were made in the clear knowledge of a budget already under serious and continuing pressure.’’
Mr Newman said growth in real gross national income was about to collapse. ‘’Having become accustomed to better than 2 per cent annual growth for 22 consecutive years, we are now facing the prospect of growth with a zero in front of it. That will feel like hitting a b...,’’ he said.
Australia could no longer afford corporate welfare in the form of support to the car industry and ailing food processors. ‘’Giving taxpayer subsidies to ailing companies has proved to be like giving aspirin to the terminally ill...”
Industrial relations should be reformed, even if the idea brings forth ‘’screams of outrage and the spectre of WorkChoices’’.
‘’We cannot hide from the fact that Australian wage rates are very high by international standards, and our system is dogged by rigidities,’’ he said.
