Be it the economy, the budget, the energy crisis, COVID-19, China, foot and mouth disease or climate, there is no low-hanging fruit for the incoming government.
So said a member of the opposition frontbench on Thursday as the Coalition girded itself for next week’s first sitting of the 47th parliament and the realisation that for the first time in nine years, it would be occupying the opposition benches.
Be it the economy, the budget, the energy crisis, the resurgence of COVID-19, the continued intransigence of China, a potential outbreak of foot and mouth disease, or the looming legislative challenge on climate change, there is no low-hanging fruit for the incoming government. Before the election, Labor complained every day that “everything is going up except your wages”. Next week, all Chalmers will be able to offer is that disparity will worsen when he upgrades the peak inflation forecast from the 4.25 per cent prediction contained in the Pre-Election Fiscal and Economic Outlook, to at least 7 per cent, which is the latest upgrade from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Both shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and shadow finance minister Jane Hume reiterated his week that the big spending during the pandemic, as necessary as it was, was out of kilter for a conservative government and the Coalition was now returning to first principles of sound budget management. That will be the principle it will apply to all Labor policy proposals.
The government was dragged to the decision which, all at once, tested the so-called new era of harmony between the Commonwealth and the premiers, and demonstrated that Albanese and Chalmers, like Morrison and Josh Frydenberg before them, face the tricky dilemma of balancing health and economic pressures.
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