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Last night, the Scott Morrison-led Government announced their second, big-spending pandemic Budget.
As widely anticipated, the Australian Government’s plan contained a number of reform initiatives to help the nation heal from its COVID-19-inflicted economic wounds.
The Budget included investment in health, aged care, low and middle-income tax offsets, a subset of job seekers, and infrastructure projects.
But, The Australian National University’s (ANU) Professor Rabee Tourky, one of the minds behind the Government’s COVID-19 Hibernation strategy, believes that the Government “may have missed the mark”.
Voters will be heading to the polls next election with a united view: ‘Mr PM, no jabs, no job’
“This is a budget for an economy constrained by a pandemic. The Government’s priority ought to be removing these constraints through mass vaccination. None of the relatively short-term economic policies released in last night’s Budget matter as much for Australia’s future as vaccinations do,” he argues.
Tourky goes one-step further, suggesting the Prime Minister should revisit his Government’s priorities or risk losing the top job.
“The Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese, said the 2021 Budget was designed to keep the PM in his job. Ultimately, I believe that whether or not Morrison stays in the role will depend on the vaccination rollout. Voters will be heading to the polls next election with a united view: ‘Mr PM, no jabs, no job’.”
Professor Tourky is currently the School Director of the Research School of Economics at ANU and has held professorial positions at The University of Melbourne, Purdue University, and The University of Queensland. He is widely regarded as one of Australia's most creative theoretical economists, including suggestions about hibernating the Australian economy.