Labor Killing Economic Confidence: Opposition Leader

Australian dollars are shown in Sydney, Australian, on March 10, 2015. Dominic Lorrimer/Getty Images

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has criticised the Australian Labor government’s approach to economic management, saying they are killing commercial confidence in our economy.

Speaking at a press conference in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory on Oct. 17, Dutton called on the government to display more positivity,

“Yes, it’s a dire situation in parts of the world, including the United States, potentially over the next 12 months and in the United Kingdom as well. But [Treasurer] Jim Chalmers needs to stop talking down the Australian economy,” he said. “At the moment, Labor is killing confidence, and that’s not what we need.”

“The fundamentals of our economy remain very strong. We had nine years of Coalition government in our country, we had a 50-year unemployment low, and the decisions that we made during our time in government have stood us in good stead to respond to the pandemic and now, as we come out of this.”

Dutton declared there was no reason for Australia to join the rest of the world as it moves into a recession unless Labor “trash talks” the country into a recession or makes decisions that will put the economy in the red.

“I think the next 12 to 18 months, in terms of the economy, in terms of energy prices, it’s going to be very difficult, and we will support the government in sensible measures, but Dr. Chalmers needs to stop talking down the economy because it will be an inevitable outcome if he continues to trash-talk the economy,” the opposition leader said.

Treasurer Looking to Make Budget Resilient

The comments from Dutton come as Treasurer Chalmers returns from a meeting with his counterparts from the U.S., UK, Canada, India, Korea, New Zealand, and Ukraine, as well as the Council of Economic Advisers to President Biden, BNP Paribas, JP Morgan, the heads of the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

Chalmers said on Oct. 17 that his key takeaway was “that the world is tiptoeing a narrowing and more perilous path when it comes to the prospect of another global downturn.”

He said Australia would not be completely spared in the next downturn and that the government was trying to make the Budget as resilient as it could be.

The treasurer said stagnant wages and skill shortages, unpredictability in energy markets, and problems in the aged care sector made Australia more vulnerable to global shocks.

“It’s our expectation, and obviously our hope, that Australia will avoid recession,” Chalmers said.

“We’ve got a lot going for us in this country: we’ve got low unemployment, we’ve got relatively solid growth, relatively solid demand, we’ve got good prices that people are paying for our commodities around the world with a positive impact of that on the Budget.”