ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN ‘JUST A GLOSSY’ PROP
THE Palaszczuk Government’s hyped economic recovery plan has been rubbished as “just a glossy document” that lacks detail after the Premier refused to reveal if it was based on any modelling.
Annastacia Palaszczuk and her senior ministers have repeatedly used the 43-page document as press conference prop and referenced it when challenged for details about their economic plan.
But quizzed yesterday on whether it was based on any modelling and if that modelling could be released, Ms
Palaszczuk failed to directly address the point, saying the plan was “there for everyone to see” and encouraged voters to have a look.
But economists who have read the plan seized on the lack of detailed economic data being released before the election and slammed the government for failing to outline “how, what, when and where things will take place”.
They said the lack of economic data also made it impossible to assess the Opposition’s proposed spending promises and how they would pay.
Adept Economics director and former Treasury official Gene Tunny said the economic recovery plan was “just a glossy document with lots of nice icons and descriptions of what (the Government is) doing but it’s not strong analysis of ... the economy”.
And he rejected the Government’s argument that the COVID-19 Fiscal and Economic Review released in September provided enough detail for voters to make informed choices about spending promises.
He said the Government should have released a full budget with fouryear projections instead of just one year of estimates c in the review.
“We’re having this election campaign, we’re having all these lavish spending promises into the future and they could end up meaning higher taxes and charges because the Government’s saying ‘we’re not going to sack public servants but the Opposition, if it follows through to get a surplus, it’s going to have to sack public servants’,” he said.
“Well, the Government’s faced with the same fiscal and economic outlook as the Opposition so if it’s not going to sack public servants that means that if it wants to balance the budget eventually it will have to increase taxes and charges so that’s why it’s such a huge problem that we don’t have a budget.”