The push to return the Budget to surplus by 2012/13 must not come at the cost of jobs or cuts to vital programs, services that working people and their communities rely on.

The ACTU today lodged a supplementary Federal Budget submission which urges the Federal Government to reconsider its deficit-reduction timetable if it puts at risk spending priorities.

While the response to the floods crisis will require some re-prioritising of spending, the Government must not be sidetracked from addressing short and long-term challenges to Australia’s prosperity and economic performance, said ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence.

Australia’s economy has recovered well from the global slowdown and is poised for a new period of growth. The deficit is manageable and the ACTU does not accept the Government’s timetable of returning the budget to surplus is immutable.

The ACTU’s supplementary submission takes into account several natural disasters and other economic developments which have occurred since January.

The supplementary submission includes the following key points:

  • The skills shortage must be kept in perspective with the labour force underutilisation rate at 12 per cent. Temporary skilled migration should only be used sparingly in situations where there is proven shortage;
  • Wages and inflation are under control and there is a strong case for a real minimum wage increase this year;
  • Productivity growth requires a shared approach, with workers receiving a diminishing proportion of productivity gains. Governments must work with unions to make genuine productivity gains;
  • Anti-dumping laws need strengthening to promote fair trade; and
  • Action on climate change presents economic opportunities and the transition to a low carbon economy must focus on clean energy jobs, reducing the carbon footprint of current jobs and protecting existing jobs.

Mr Lawrence said the ACTU supported the Government’s flood levy announced in January to partly fund the $5.6 billion recovery cost of floods.

But unions strongly believe the burden of recovery costs should be extended to the corporate sector, he said. The Federal Government should not use these disasters as a reason for Budget cuts, or cuts to existing programs.