Politics

Scott Morrison delivers brutal assessment of the economy

Aug 25, 2016

After campaigning on a promise to deliver a strong economic future for Australia, Treasurer Scott Morrison has handed down his honest and harsh assessment.

Mr Morrison is set to hand down three “economic headland” speeches in the coming weeks and will warn Australians that we are at risk of becoming complacent and destroying our 25 years of economic growth.

In parts of the speech obtained by Fairfax, Mr Morrison says Australia could be heading towards a recession and a drastic dip in living standards.

“I do not want my kids to know what a recession is and everything that goes along with that,” the speech says.

“I recognise that in the absence of a ‘recession we have to have’, or the threat of ‘becoming a banana republic’, achieving necessary change will be more frustrating and more difficult.

“But it is no less necessary, and achieving it this way is far better than the alternative.

“A generation has grown up not ever having known a recession, of seeing unemployment rates at more than 10 per cent, with one million Australians out of work or mortgage rates at 18 per cent or where inflation is actually a problem, rather than an aspiration.”

He asks taxpayers if they’re “up to the challenge of doing what we need to do to ensure another 25 years of consecutive economic growth?”.

While he has warned that we could be heading into difficult times, he is yet to announce how the government will deal with the issue and what changes will be made.

There is already speculation of more changes to super and welfare payments with many people asking how it’s all going to play out.

There are also fears from others on the other side that Labor will put up a fight and make it difficult to make the changes needed to avoid a recession.

Since the the government campaigned on the premise that Australians could trust them with the economy, we’d like to put this question to you…