Over the last week or so the Prime Minister has argued against a modest increase in wages for our lowest paid.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As Tony Windsor, former MP for New England pointed out, the ACTU is seeking a $1 per hour increase and employers are arguing for only $0.62. This means that the argument between Scott Morrison and the rest Australia is about 38 cents per hour!
These are the workers who were praised for their efforts during the pandemic lockdowns to keep our community and economy going.
READ MORE:
With straight face, he argues that they should not receive a pay increase to help them cope with the impacts of inflation.
This, despite overseeing a $22 billion increase in the anticipated cost of tax cuts which will predominantly favour the better off and the obscenely rich, taking the total cost to more than $200 billion. Money that could be spent on schools, hospitals, doctors and nurses.
This is the same PM who gave billions of dollars to companies that did not need JobSeeker support, money that has not been repaid.
We have seen rort after rort from this government. Millions, if not billions, of dollars of public funds have been channelled to party donors and political supporters through various schemes and programs.
This week the government proposed a scheme where you could cash in part of your superannuation to top up your house deposit.
This late-night thought bubble from an increasingly desperate PM, has a number of issues. Firstly, it will push up the house prices. If you are selling a house and you know that every potential buyer will have an additional $50,000 then why would you not increase your asking price accordingly?
Secondly, this raid on retirement savings is happening at the top of a price bubble and at a time when interest rates are just starting to rise. This means that a proportion of those who might access this scheme could fall into arrears and lose their houses as the interest rate rises really start to bite.
The money taken from super that was supposed to be reinvested into super when the property is sold would disappear.
In my view, we can't get to where we want to be under the current federal government. There have been too many colour-coded spreadsheets, too many instances where financial support depends on political support or voting patterns.
We need better. We deserve better. It's time for change.
