Australia faces a “debt crisis”

As the old saying goes: “if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth”.

Since unveiling their budget two months ago, Tony Abbott and his mate Joe Hockey, have been claiming that Australia faces a “debt crisis” in an attempt to  justify their harsh cuts to education, health and the larger social safety net that working people, through our unions, have fought so hard to secure. Here in NSW, the Liberal Government are also using similar lines to threaten our jobs, rights and services.  The problem is, their fear campaign doesn’t match the facts.

The truth is, the Liberal and National State and Federal Governments are so far off the mark, even when they cozy up to big business, leading Australian economists have recently publicly rejected the notion that Australia has a "debt crisis'', with one expert even saying it was an abuse of the language to apply the term to Australia! In other words: “Debt crisis? What debt crisis?!”¹

So while the PM and Premier Mike Baird might believe they can sell ice to an eskimo, the community isn’t buying their “budget crisis” lies. Click on the image below to share with your Facebook friends and help Bust the Budget myths!



Sadly, the Liberal lies don’t stop there. They claim our deficit is too high, when in fact our deficit is a mere 1.2% of GDP - a quarter of the advanced country average. They claim that taxes are too high and spending is “out of control,” when Australia is the 4th lowest among OECD countries on both counts.²

The truth is, the Abbott Government lied their way into office on a trail of broken promises,  and now they continue lying to mask their true intentions: using the budget as a way to promote policies that would lead to an American-style system in which average Australians are priced out of educational opportunities, families have to pay for privatised healthcare, and business interests and profits margins have priority -- rather than what’s best for our community.

Don’t let them get away with it. Expose the Liberals’ lies: help get the truth out on twitter and Bust the Budget myths by sharing with your Facebook friends.

I’ll be quite frank. As a union leader, you won’t often catch me quoting John Howard, but recently the former PM made a pretty sensible observation, noting the Australian people “will respond to an argument for change and reform [but] they want two requirements. They want to be satisfied it's in the national interest, because they have a deep sense of nationalism and patriotism. They also want to be satisfied it's fundamentally fair.”

This budget doesn’t even pass the Howard test, and the Liberal party’s lines don’t pass the truth test.

“If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth.” Abbott and Hockey keep repeating their “budget crisis” lies; it’s up to us, budget busters, to fight fear with facts and make sure their tall tales don’t become accepted as truth.

In Solidarity,

Mark Lennon
Secretary
UnionsNSW

¹"Economists reject Abbott crisis claims" Sydney Morning Herald; 12 July 2014
²“Myth busting the Commission of Audit” The Australia Institute; 2014