Cost of living crisis

The question I have for readers this month is, do you feel better off after two years under Labor?

The latest National Accounts figures must be a wake-up call for Labor.

They show the slowest GDP growth since 1991, outside the pandemic.

This is the fifth consecutive quarter of negative GDP per person growth.

Australia is in a household, consumer confidence, and productivity recession. But it didn’t have to be this way.

Labor’s $315 billion in extra spending and its gross mismanagement of the economy are causing higher inflation, higher interest rates and higher taxes. And every single Australian is worse off:

• Real disposable income per capita has fallen 7.8% since before the election.
• Productivity has fallen 5.2% since Labor came to office.
• Household savings remain 9.9 percentage points lower than before the election.
• Personal income taxes are 20% higher since before the election; and
• Mortgage payments have almost tripled since the election.

The numbers don’t lie.

Wannon families are poorer under Labor. The only thing keeping people’s heads above water in this cost-of-living crisis are their jobs.

Labor misleads on mobile black spot funding

Labor’s Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, has been caught out attempting to argue that the Mobile Black Spot Program has not been cut to zero.

But the facts are that the Budget papers show that in 2027/28, funding is cut to zero not only for the Mobile Black Spot Program (they specifically refer to the “conclusion” of the program*) but also for the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia.

It’s time the Government was honest about the axing of funding to the Mobile Black Spot Program especially to rural and regional Australians who rely on the program.

It was the Coalition in Government which set up the Mobile Black Spot Program and once again we see Labor crab-walking away from supporting it.

Minister Rowland must reverse her decision to defund the Mobile Black Spot Program and ensure that regional communities have the same connectivity rights as the rest of Australia.