Statement on the cost of living, economic performance and new taxes
Saturday, 01 October 2011 22:00 in Media Releases
I am seriously concerned about how the rising cost of living is impacting on residents and families in our community. Everywhere I go people tell me that things are really tough and getting tougher.
The Gillard Labor Government has turned a $20 billion surplus into a $50 billion deficit and turned $70 billion in net assets into $107 billion of net debt; this on top of Labor borrowing another $135 million every single day. Now they are adding new taxes and further burdens to the economy.
In our own State, Labor, with Anna Bligh in charge, actually managed to lose Queensland's AAA credit rating. In July, the Commonwealth Bank's 'States of the States' report ranked Queensland's economic performance as the weakest in the country. To perform so badly, despite having a thriving mining industry, must be something of a record.
The hard truth is that Labor, whether Federal or State, means more debt with increasing interest payments to drain our economy. Taxpayer dollars which should pay for schools, hospitals, roads and other key projects, go instead to pay Labor's creditors. This is a long term burden inflicted on Queensland and Australian taxpayers by wasteful and incompetent Labor governments.
Six days before the last federal election, Julia Gillard, announced, "There will be no Carbon Tax under the Government I lead”. Now, with Greens’ leader Bob Brown looking over her shoulder, the Prime Minister is set to hurt the lifestyles of ordinary families and the viability of small businesses with a Carbon Tax.
This week, the Australian Council of Trade Unions admitted the Carbon Tax will mean lower incomes for workers.
Your TV, heater, air-conditioner, fridge, even a visit to the supermarket, will all cost you more. The Carbon Tax will mean a $9 billion a year new tax, electricity and gas costing around 10% more in the first year alone, and a $4.3 billion hit to the budget bottom line. And the Carbon Tax will do nothing to actually improve the environment.
The result for you is more taxes with less to show for them – fewer public hospital beds, longer waiting lists, less infrastructure, fewer police, teachers and nurses. That is the legacy of Labor.
It is time to get rid of the Gillard and Bligh Labor Governments. I am determined that residents in Ryan have their voices heard. We cannot stand by as Labor continues to wreck our state and our great country.
