Australian Left Review
Article Title
Briefings: Nation-Building
Abstract
If the 1991 Job Statement had put all three together in a package, and added around a billion or so more on direct job creation through local government programs, the problem of unemployment and low investment which still plagues the nation would have probably been significantly reduced by now. But the bits and pieces approach since November 1991 has been too small and too disjointed to produce the necessary results. One Nation II will add $2.5 billion to the budget deficit over a four year period without a single new job being guaranteed to result. The government appears to be treating these so-called economic statements as political tools to try to head off the Coalition. The only other conclusion is that they are getting very poor advice from their well-paid staff and/or the bureaucracy.