The Business of Jobs

Jobs and wealth are created by business, not government, but Labor don’t get it. By Tim James.

There are considerable and clear contrasts between the major parties coming out of this Budget.

The most compelling among them is that Labor must believe jobs for Australians are created by government. 

The Government’s Budget focus is on policies and initiatives to drive enterprise and individual effort. This reflects the timeless truth that real, sustainable jobs must be created by business, not government.

Numerous Budget elements enunciate this: lower taxes; support for business through COVID; more infrastructure; cheaper, reliable energy; employment incentives; and business concessions in recovery, and more. Each of these will help to ensure business and job survival, first and foremost, then opportunity, investment, growth and new jobs. 

In stark contrast, the Opposition’s focus is on policies and initiatives to drive government schemes and programs.

Anthony Albanese’s Budget in Reply focuses on these: renewing the grid (by government entity); building social housing (by government initiative); supporting childcare (by government support); a “skills guarantee” (by government mandate); and renewable energy (by government policies).  Note the recurring theme – it’s basically all about government.  

This contrast was well illustrated when the Opposition Leader spoke of “Labor’s values of fairness, security and the power of government”.

It’s worth reflecting on this for a moment. The “power of government” is a Labor value. What does that even mean?  Vote for Labor because they believe in the power of government?!  Perhaps it’s not surprising from the Party that is effectively owned by the unions and is still to this day defined in its own constitution as a democratic socialist party. 

Contrast those values with Liberal values of freedom, enterprise and the power of the individual. For these values will, when coupled with the core Liberal premise of equality of opportunity, deliver true fairness and security much more than any government monies or mandates. 

The Opposition Leader also referred to the current recession as the “Morrison recession” in a cheap and cynical line that does Labor no credit. Everyone knows how this recession came about and it demeans our democracy to seek to have it owned by our nation’s leader. 

Josh Frydenberg’s Budget is a Liberal Budget that delivers for business, recognising it is the essential enabler of job and wealth creation.

As even deeper indication of the contrast between the parties, consider this analysis, recognising its limitations but accepting the basic premise that words matter:

Josh Frydenberg referenced business 23 times in his Budget speech, Anthony Albanese six times.

Josh Frydenberg referenced jobs 37 times in his Budget speech, Anthony Albanese 12 times.

The Treasurer talked of infrastructure nine times to the Opposition Leader’s five.

The Treasurer focused a section of the Budget on the regions and references the regions six times with particular commitments included.

The Opposition Leader made just one reference to the regions in simply saying he wants a country that respects farmers and miners in the regions, but then says nothing of what he would do for regions. 

The Treasurer referenced lowering taxes many times over but the Opposition Leader said nothing of the sort. There’s no commitment from Labor to lower taxes and, more notably, no commitment to not increase taxes to pay for its many government programs. 

History tells us a lot when it comes to the role of government and how it relates to the approach of our parties. 

Robert Menzies made clear the core role of government when he said in 1969:

“The greatest function of a democratic government is to create a climate in which enterprise will flourish and productivity will increase . . . ”

Despite the very difficult current economic conditions, these words resonate through the array of Budget commitments this week and rightly so. 

These further poignant words of Menzies, the following year, in 1970, also speak to the Budget this week:

“ . . . we recognise that the State has very wide responsibilities; by appropriate economic and monetary measures to assist in preventing large-scale unemployment; by social and industrial legislation to provide a high degree of economic security and justice for all its citizens.”

Indeed this government has acted to prevent, as much as a government can, large scale unemployment in recent times. 

In the toughest of conditions, amidst extraordinary global uncertainty, the Treasurer and the Government have delivered a Liberal Budget focused on jobs and enterprise, for these are the essential fuel for people to be employed and engaged in our Australian economy and society.