CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers is an inch away from a full-blown dummy spit this week, after his third Federal Budget was openly ridiculed by both the public, the media, and a Federal Opposition
As a doctor of political science and a rising star of the Labor Party, Chalmers had hoped this budget would be compared to the famous economic reforms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’.
Unfortunately he was immediately called out on a clunky $300 energy rebate, one that will see millions of dollars being gifted to the same villainous property hoarders that have caused both the current economic downturn and housing crisis.
As Chalmers cops flak for trying to force a decrease in interest rates by bypassing the back pocket of Australians to avoid them needless spending money on medicine and groceries, it’s the Future Made in Australia Policy that the Labor Party would prefer everybody focuses on.
In his effort to revitalise Australia’s almost non-existent local manufacturing sector, the total cost envisaged for Future Made in Australia initiatives was $22.7 billion over the next 10 years, saying that it would help make Australia ‘an indispensable part of the global economy’.
Chalmers says this new direction aims to help combat China’s dominance when it comes to making things, and to also diversify Australia’s local manufacturing beyond the meth labs that exist in outer suburban rental properties.
Once a titan of locally made exports, a string of successive neoliberal governments have seen the discontinuation of Australia’s automative, electrical and medical manufacturing – resulting in millions of lay-offs and empty factories.
“Just look around” says Chalmers.
“The factories of Geelong and Dandedong might have closed, but Australians are still finding a way to get to work”
Chalmers says despite the fact that this sector has been turned off at the wall and offloaded overseas to cheaper Asian labour, Australians have proven that our entrepreneurial spirit has not been crushed by the corporate suits and their cold-blooded deindustrialisation.
“With the Future Made in Australia package, I want to see Australians back in factories, rather than the meth labs”
“Also, I think I speak for everyone when I say that this kills two birds with one stone. Those suburban methlabs shouldn’t be wasted on drug manufacturing, they should be rented out to young families for $850 a week!”
