MORRISON PATTING HIMSELF ON THE BACK WHILST FAILING ON JABS

RICHARD MARLES MP
JIM CHALMERS MP

While we welcome a fall in unemployment, today’s ABS Labour Force figures reveal more Australians are looking for more work this month than there were last month, with more than 1.8 million Australians now searching for work or more hours.

Underemployment is now 10.1 per cent in the Treasurer’s home state of Victoria and has increased to 7.9 per cent nationally.

As the Budget made clear, Australia’s economic recovery is tied to vaccines.

Right now, Scott Morrison’s botched vaccine rollout is the biggest risk to our economic recovery.

Understandably, with millions of Australians facing the ongoing uncertainty of COVID outbreaks and lockdowns, few Australians will be focusing on last month’s unemployment number and will be worried about a further deterioration in the weeks and months ahead.

Of course we want more Australians in well-paid, secure jobs but there are cities facing great uncertainty right now because Scott Morrison hasn’t been doing his job.

The Labour Force Figures released by the ABS today are for June and do not reflect the hurt and devastation many communities are feeling right now.

The self-congratulations from the Morrison Government today speaks volumes of their attitude towards this pandemic, their tone-deafness to the anxiety felt by so many working Australians and their refusal to take any responsibility for their failures.

As these outbreaks are ongoing, and the States are doing their best to contain the consequences of Scott Morrison’s vaccine and quarantine failures, the support measures announced by the Federal Government do not even guarantee the crucial link between employees and business.

This uptick in the number of underemployed Australians continues the trend in higher underemployment under the Morrison Government.

We can’t have a first-rate jobs and economic recovery with a third-rate vaccine rollout.

THURSDAY, 15 JULY 2021

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