.HAD Tony Abbott been prime minister during the global financial crisis, we would have had the Abbott Recession. But thankfully he wasn’t, and so we didn’t. It was Labor’s response to the GFC that saved us. In the colour and movement of an election campaign it’s often easy to lose sight of the real issues that matter in terms of the choice for the Australian people. But one thing is clear. Nothing is more important than managing the economy well – and Tony Abbott voted against the stimulus package that saved Australia from recession. He actually said: “The economic stimulus wasn’t necessary to strengthen Australia’s economy at a time of global recession.” I hope these words haunt him forever, because they should. His reckless approach to economics would have cost more than 200,000 Australians their jobs. This is the economic truth that Abbott can’t deny. When I speak to my counterparts from other trade unions in the US and Europe, it’s gut-wrenching to hear of the unemployment plaguing those countries. In the US alone, unemployment is currently running at 9.6 per cent. In Britain, it’s 7.8 per cent – in Australia, it’s 5.1 per cent. It’s easy to lose track of how the GFC is still wreaking havoc on the lives of working people right across the developed world. Here in Australia, Labor’s response to the GFC insulated our economy from the worst aspects of the global recession. The leadership demonstrated by Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan was instrumental in saving the livelihoods of so many hard-working Australians. Treasury analysis has shown that Labor’s stimulus spending during the GFC saved more than 200,000 jobs. Swan’s actions ensured that our nation enjoyed an economic growth rate of 1.3 per cent in 2009. If Labor hadn’t taken action to stimulate the economy, Treasury has said that it would have contracted by 0.7 per cent, and therefore landed us in a recession. trevspoliticalrants/2010/08/02/had-tony-abbott-been-prime-minister-during-the-global-financial-crisis-we-would-have-had-the-abbott-recession/
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 11:30:11 +0000
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