When Ian “Bluey” George from Logan 101 FM asked me this week about what the federal budget delivered for our community, the sad and simple truth, I told him, was, not enough.
In this middle of the worst recession in almost 100 years, with unemployment on the rise, the end of the school year looming and much uncertainty around about the future of the virus, the federal budget should have provided a plan for our local community and the country beyond.
To the bitter disappointment of many of us, the federal budget largely ignored the challenges facing us, leaving too many out and too many behind.
But here’s the rub: all of these missed opportunities were still there even after Scott Morrison racked up a trillion dollars of debt.
That’s a trillion dollars that taxpayers in our community will need to repay in the future, so it’s worth asking, what do we get for all that debt?
No proper jobs plan to help Queenslanders back into work.
No plan for social housing – which would be good for local tradies and leave a lasting legacy for our most vulnerable.
And nothing new for childcare and even less to help women back into work.
Without a comprehensive plan to kickstart the economy, communities like ours risk seeing a whole generation of workers sacrificed to this recession.
It doesn’t have to be like this. In fact, there’s no excuse for it; a first-world, first-rate, wealthy country like ours needs to work with communities like ours to help Australians not just get by in this recession, but get ahead in the recovery.
Our community can emerge stronger and fairer from this crisis and set our kids up take advantage of the opportunities that come their way in the recovery – but only a federal Labor Government will ensure this.
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