Not since the June quarter of 1930, during the last Great Depression when it had been estimated Australia's GDP fell by 9.5% has the economy been delt such a shattering blow as it was in the June quarter 2020, a decline in GDP of 7.0%. Since official records began in 1959 the biggest decline was 2% in 1974. So far the government has been successful in masking much of the economic woes with generous cash payments to workers and business, all with borrowed money. With real unemployment pushing 15% and at the same time much of the generous government economic support about to be curtailed, what is the economic future for Australians. The national debt could reach one trillion dollars in a few short years, unemployment at 20% plus, with one in five businesses failing.

With such a gloomy economic outlook Australians are looking to the Federal Government for a road map to recovery. Some months back Morrison was touting his snap back idea, whereby the economy would recover quickly, that is clearly not the case. Surprisingly, and with few other options, the conservatives have over the past six months embraced a high degree of socialism with their interventionist policies. Now Australia is approaching the economic and social crossroad, and with a choice will the conservatives return to their economic mantra of allowing the free market to determine if and when the economy should recover, or will the government be forced to intervene even more to stave off much of the pain that a failed economy creates.

Are Public Servants affected by this depression ?

Paul 1405 is reduced to regurgitating stuff we all know. We hear about this stuff every day in the media.

individual,

Yours is a rhetorical question, of course: the politicians and public servants are not affected. Both have made gains, while the private sector - the group that pays for them - have gone backwards.

ttbn,
Exactly & it explains it all !

It's been a while since Australians faced an immediate
threat. They've experienced years of prosperity and
have no greater desire than for that prosperity to
continue. We live in an age where many people have a
desire for optimism and a positive outlook on the
world. People want to believe they live in the best of
all possible worlds even if terrible events occur all
around them. They don't like a world divided into
winners and losers.

Therefore the current government has to be careful with
the approach that it's going to take. The leader's role
here is twofold. Firstly to provide safety and security
for the members of the country they lead. Secondly to
do so in a positive and optimistic fashion that re-
assures the people that nothing will interfere with the
pursuit of the pleasures of an affluent society.

We don't live in an age that favours Churchillian rhetoric.
It won't resonate. Churchill's rhetoric emphasising
struggle, crisis and emergency is not going to go down
well. In 21st century democratic Australia the general
population does not want to be constantly reminded of
negativity. Scott Morrison needs to read the signs of the
times. People need hope - not doom and gloom.

Don't worry, I certain Soot Morrison and Josh Frydenberg are working on a plan to hand down a surplus budget that will blow your minds away.

People need hope - not doom and gloom.
Foxy,
I agree, could you please do your bit to encourage the Leftist media to pull their fingers out ?

Come off it Paul.

The worst problem for Australia is being caused by the catastrophe that is Victoria.
It is in the worst health situation.
It is in the worst economic situation.
It is costing most of public funds.
It has the worst unemployment.
It is run by the worst lefty government.

At least half the current problem for Australia has been precipitated by the ratbag left governments handling of the pandemic.

Bleating about Morrison, no matter how poor his handling of the situation may have been, most of the continuing problem is down to Victoria's lefty government.

Andrews should be in prison for some of his actions, but his police force is too busy arresting pregnant women for what they posted on a bloody web site, for gods sake.

It was 30 years ago since Keating delivered the recession we 'had to have'. I was still working for a living then, and the earth did not stop moving. Those who who lead a simple life, lived what they earned and were generally thrifty, sailed through it. The same thing would happen now, if people were not so greedy and wanting everything that rich people have. No sympathy for them.

We're in uncharted territory, so inventing a roadmap won't be much help. The situation is controlled by events, so we need reactive policies.

Are public servants affected? Well, the federal public service is at its lowest number for years, with cutbacks since 2013. Presumably this contributed to the robodebt fiasco. People are now being redeployed from other departments to the tax office and centelink to help with the workload. At a local level, council workers are pretty busy fixing roads, probably taking advantage of lower traffic. Where I live, redeployed police and military are running the border check points. And space a thought for doctors and nurses in the public health system who have a high rate of covid infection. Maybe you didn't mean those public servants? The ones we depend on?

Are public servants affected?

yes they can't buy their lattes because they are 'working' from home on full pay.

ttbn,

Xi Jinping just announced: "Australia, this is the recession WE had to give YOU."

PS I hear China is going to start having a Happy WuFlu Day to celebrate the way it managed to damage Western economies by unleashing the pandemic on the world.

And of course China won't go into recession because - yes you guessed it - it is a planned economy. (Maybe Soot and the boys should convert to communism during recessions and in order to make everything look rosy just like the Chinese.)

Maybe you didn't mean those public servants? The ones we depend on?
Cossomby,
You guessed correctly ! I'm on about the bureaudroids & other BA flashers who don't even know what they get paid for & why !

Dear Paul,

What we have have this time around clearly is a
self-imposed recession with health measures forcing a
shutdown of the economy and people movements.
Yes, the health measure that we've put in place have come
at a cost and the Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann said,
"it is nigh impossible to make realistic and credible
forecasts in the current environment".

However, even before COVID-19 the Australian economy was
tepid with the bushfires and weak wages growth dampening
consumer spending. However, there are forecasts that
may prove optimistic - depending on conditions and
programmes put in place. Realistically some businesses
may not survive and some consumers may decide to remain
cautious about their spending for sometime.

However, the current government under the leadership of
Scott Morrison is doing everything it can to manage not
only the health crisis but encourage economic growth
with the packages it's making available.

We will recover. It may not be as fast as some would like.
But it will happen. Our country is in good hands under
the current government. Of that I am sure. And as I have
stated previously, we are lucky to be living in this country
rather than any where else at present.

"the federal public service is at its lowest number for years"

Bulldust.

"Australia is experiencing a ‘K’ shaped recovery, WHERE THE PUBLIC SECTOR CONTINUES TO GROW AND RECEIVE PAY RISES while the private sector languishes. This is made worse by the fact that those on the upward sloping arm of the ‘K’ make the decisions about when and how those on the downward sloping arm can return to work.” (Cian Hussey, IPA researcher).

Individual, perhaps you should be more careful of your word usage. When you denigrate 'public servants' you hurt a lot of people who do great work on our behalf, often at risk to themselves. I am hopeful that the economy will survive covid, but we would be in real trouble if all public servants walked out.

The latest ABS figures reveal a GDP fall of 7.0% for the June Quarter, the largest drop on record. Not enough people producing, and too many in that sheltered workshop, the Australian Public Service.

ttbn, as others are interested in today's events, you might not be so, as you slumber in your easy chair down at the 'Sleepy Pines' aged care facility hoping the "Big C Virus" don't come knock'n on the door. Like Indy and a couple of other forum Old Farts, I suspect you haven't worked for 30 years or more, content living off the public purse in the form of an aged pension. With snout firmly in the trough you think you are safe from any economic hard times, the taxpayer will continue to support you in your old age, but for millions of Australians which you don't give a toss about, they and their families are going to do it tough in these hard economic times. For the lemmings like you, off to the cliff top nothing to see here.

Hassy, your spray against the Victorians is somewhat off the mark, yes Victoria is a economic problem, so is the Liberal led New South Wales where GDP in the June quarter dropped by 8.6%, suck on that one. All that has been hinted at by the Morrison government is cuts to their 'Jobkeeper' and 'Jobseeker' programs and some early tax cuts to high end taxpayers, which will marginally help some that have a job. As Morrison demands of Andrews, a road map out of the states lockdown, we should be demanding of Morrison a road map to economic recovery.

Dear Paul,

Josh Frydenberg has outlined the government's economic
plan to get Australians back to work and the economy
back on the up. This includes:

1) Investing in infrastructure.
2) Creating 340,000 new skills training places.
3) More flexibility in our Industrial Relations system.
4) Cutting Red Tape.
5) Creating incentives for businesses to invest.

To name just a few.

As I've stated previously - we're in good hands.

Foxy,

These are just everyday tactics that don't require much of an imagination and just presents a business as usual approach for a post-WuFlu world.

Australia needs to rethink its economic system and start restructuring the economy in order to be less dependent on foreign nations for when something like this pandemic happens again. And something will happen.

With regards China it looks like Australia is realigning with other nations both economically and militarily to exclude China from any further involvement in Australia. I think we should never have reached this stage but that's just me. If I had my way I would cancel all visas held my the Chinese in Australia and send them packing to China. They are nothing but a bunch of parasites and troublemakers.

Hi Foxy,

My concern is for those that will fall through the cracks, the unemployed, the low income earners, the already struggling families, people battling in small business, and a host of other marginalised people. There are rumblings from the government of a return to free market policies. What is in store for those suffering from mortgage and rental stress as incomes fall and the moratorium on payments end.

Paul1405,

One of the things that pandemics leave in their ware is mass poverty.

We have yet to see the recession peak. Unemployment is currently about 7.5% and I think we will get to 10% by the end of the year and who knows how high it will go after that.

A lot of people will lose there homes which will probably be snapped up by cashed up Chinese for a song.

Expect to see a lot of poverty over the next couple of years if a vaccine against the WuFlu is still unavailable.

Mr O,

No one believes that "official" unemployment figure of 7.5%, not even good old Josh Friedbrain, he admits it about 15%. China, how well they're doing, once that get their people off that under priced cheap piss from Aussie the sky's the limit! Job, jobs, jobs, down at the Wuhan Wet Market, they might even have something for you, what are you like at knocking off Pangolins, I believe they are rather tasty fricasseed over a slow fire, or whipping up a batch of bat soup for hungry hoards? Count you in?

denigrate 'public servants' you hurt a lot of people who do great work on our behalf,
Cossomby,
Only those who are part of that group I Those who perform valuable work out of the limelight know who I'm referring to & they're not offended.
Many of them are in jobs that never get any attention yet their work is vital. It would not occur to them to walk out nor would they ever betray us as some bureaudroids do !

"Those (public servants) who perform valuable work" Indy, does that include those that pay your aged welfare payment each fortnight? Are they doing that "valuable work" you prat on about. I understand your beef with the PS. You last worked in 1972, said so yourself, probably had a job as a low grade PS, which you unfortunately stuffed up and was sacked! For near on 50 years you've had this gripe with the PS.

Indy, over the years I had lots to do with public servants and private enterprise employees as well. Like all enterprise the PS is made up of the good the bad and the lazy. I would say there is more accountability on public servants than there is on many employees in large private corporations.

Paul's posts are just an excuse for him to rant and rave against "old farts" and everyone else he is jealous of. Loser.

And here we have the usual "old fart"comment
right on cue - from someone who knows all too well
about losers!

Gotta laugh!

Paul1405,
None of you new kids on the block are contributing to our Pension. You weren't even born when I & those on the old age pension now starting buying it !

individual,

It's probably best not to rattle Paul's cage at all. We are only helping him paper over his frustrations with life - that's the only reason he uses OLO. Occasionally, though, be does need to be treated the way he treats everyone else.

The only depression that Paul understands is the disappointment of having to wait in the centrelink queue.

At times like these mirrors would come in handy.
As would a good long hard look into them.

Dear Ttbn,

«Those who who lead a simple life, lived what they earned and were generally thrifty, sailed through it.»

Looking back to March, apart from the effects of the virus itself that were still largely unknown, the very realistic fear was of economic collapse including bank-failures. This would devastate even the most thrifty who would see their savings go down the gurgler.

The economic steps taken were therefore very reasonable and not motivated by socialism at all, but by common sense and cold calculation. As COVID is still here, conditions are not yet ripe to lift those steps.

Thanks Yuyutsu, common sense at last :)

Joe

Indy, how old are you? I'm 67 you must be 147! The question is; Is the most valuable public servant the one who pays out your welfare payment each fortnight. Me thinks ttbn has his snout in that same trough as well.

What's your angle fellas, how do you do it? My accountant tells me fixing up assets so us oldies can cash in on the aged pension is one of his most profitable past times.

Paul1405,
BS. No-one is that silly at 67, not even the average village idiot !

Not everyone lives in villages.
Retirement or other.

Foxy,
A lot of brainless wonders emerge from campuses whereas a village usually only has one idiot !

Not so Indy, down at the 'Shady Rest' retirement village there are lots of village idiots besides you, and they are all over 67, sorry over 97, there's Hassy and ttbn, mhaze and Il Duce, btw where is Il Duce? You might think he is only taking a nap in his easy chair next to you, and has done so for the past 3 weeks, are you not the least bit concerned that his arms have fallen off, and he now stinks to high heaven. Try yelling in his ear,"ALTRAV.... Nursey is about to start our morning game of parcheesi, nothing gets all you lads adrenaline going like your morning game of parcheesi! Except maybe your afternoon game of tiddly winks. If that don't rouse ALTE old boy, then me thinks you will have to call Nursey to wake him up.

Not so Indy,
Paul1405,
How'd you know, you've proven time & time again your mentality isn't up to reality !

individual,

Which nursing home are you in?

Ageism - prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age - is unlawful in Australia - just as unlawful as racism. The Age Discrimation Act 2004 is administered by the Human Rights Commissioner.

We are lucky to have people of different ages on OLO. However, we are most unfortunate to have one raging ageist here, Paul 1405, who deserves a long, miserable old age to reflect on everything he has said about people older and wiser than himself.

ttbn,

Which nursing home are you in?

Mr. Opinion,

Which secure psychiatric facility are you in?

ttbn,

The one just down the road from your nursing home.