Fairfax Media conducted it’s mid year economic during the week just past. Twenty-five economists from some of Australia’s largest companies and universities took part. Much of the discussion centred on the budget and the economy, and the Government was given a very low scorecard by all participants. Some did not mince their words. Here is some of what was said. Dr Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP Capital. “Australia is not facing a budget or public debt crisis. Our budget deficit and net public debt are low and our bond yields are low. Foreign investors are happily buying our bonds right now”. Chris Caton, from BT Financial, said it was “simply absurd too suggest that Australia had too much debt” Saul Eslake, Chief Economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said “to apply the terms budget crisis and debt emergency to the Australian economy was “to abuse the English language’. Richard Robinson of BIS Shrapnel said Australia needed a decent mining tax and state land taxes, as recommended by the Henry Tax Review. Jakob Madsen of Melbourne University said the best way to get out of debt was to boost economic growth because it automatically lowers the debt to GDP and budget deficit to GDP ratios. Many others in attendance made similar comments. All this will sound familiar to those who have read my posts since before the election. It demonstrates that neither Tony Abbott nor Joe Hockey have listened to, or if they have listened they have not understood, what these experts have been saying. There is no doubt that Tony Abbott is the driving force behind the budget, and it amply demonstrates that his becoming Prime Minister was a triumph of ambition and ideology over talent and knowledge. I say again, the Liberal party must replace him as leader at the earliest possible time if they are to have any hope of not being wiped out at the next election.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 06:01:34 +0000
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