By Christine Milne Monday 15 December 2014
Photo: MYEFO will be our best indication yet of whether the Abbott Government has learnt its lesson about its budget. (AAP: Dean Lewins)
The real test of the Treasurer's MYEFO mini budget won't be the size of the forecast deficit, but its targets for raising revenue, writes Greens leader Christine Milne.
With the release of the mid-year economic forecast today, commentators and pundits alike will be watching keenly to see if Treasurer Joe Hockey and Prime Minister Tony Abbott have learnt anything at all from the last six months of chaos and disaster borne of their cruel budget.
To date we've only seen political posturing and tinkering around the edges of failed policies. Desperate attempts to breathe life into twice-dead reforms are all about saving face and a phoney commitment to fixing a debt crisis that everyone else accepts does not exist.
Tony Abbott's Government has failed to grasp that without a substantial realignment of priorities for raising revenue to fund vital services and infrastructure, the Australian people and the parliament they elected will reject their cruel budget measures again, and again, and again.
The Australian people have seen straight through the magician's tricks in Mr Hockey's budget. The "look over here" distractions of a temporary deficit levy and medical research fund didn't fool anyone. When viewed in the context of brutal and permanent cuts elsewhere, they are little more than smoke and mirrors.
The budget is seen for what it is: a blatant cash grab from those who can least afford to pay in order to let the big end of town off the hook. It offends fundamental Australian values that we all deserve a fair go no matter where we live or the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Australians have also rejected Mr Hockey's special pleading that there are no alternatives. It is a lie. With the banks, polluters, miners and the big end of town raking in billions in under-taxed profit and subsidies, the argument that we should put the onus on students, the unemployed and sick to "fix the budget" is seen for what it is - a con job.
It is disappointing then, that the Labor Opposition has failed to help expose the "no alternative" lie by keeping its head down and not proposing its own revenue alternatives as the Greens have done. Bill Shorten has taken a lesson from Mr Abbott's playbook in this regard. But never mind, the Australian people have cottoned on regardless.
Australians get it. They want more than lip service about corporate tax avoidance, they want action and to see the tax dollars flow in to fund better schools and hospitals. They demand more than token temporary levies on the mega rich, they want to create a more caring and equal society with revenue raised from the people who can afford it. The Greens' fully costed policies to this end would raise almost $70 billion.
MYEFO will be our best indication yet of whether the Abbott Government has learnt its lesson.
While some economists will be looking straight to the bottom line, the real test of Mr Hockey's mini budget won't be the size of the forecast deficit, but its targets for raising revenue to fund the services and support Australians deserve.
If the Abbott Government fails to drop its born-to-rule mentality and continues to try to browbeat the Senate to pass its cruel budget, it is doomed to fail itself. When we look to its targets for revenue raising, we'll know where the new budget will end up.
Christine Milne is the Australian Greens Leader and Senator for Tasmania. View her full profile here.
Has the Government learnt its budget lesson? - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
