Two hours ago we said that Bill Shorten hadbackflipped on the number of childcare workers who would benefit from hisunprecedented intervention into the Australian wages market.
Well, it seems he has since backflipped onthat backflip.
At his press conference in Tasmania, theLeader of the Opposition claimed that he “would like to give a better pay riseto 140,000 childcare workers” despite having briefed media that only 100,000people would benefit from his highly irregular labour market intervention.
But, in a demonstration of his extraordinaryinability to command even the most basic details of his own signature policies,Mr Shorten surprised his (already surprised) travelling party with news thathis second backflip was made in error, and could he please go back to thefigure of 100,000 childcare workers he’d been using hours earlier.
And here’s the kicker – according to thelatest data, from 2016, there are 195,000 childcare workers inAustralia, or 194,994 to be precise.*
So around 95,000 childcare workers will bemissing out under Mr Shorten’s irregular and unprecedented economic policy ofusing taxpayer dollars to top up private sector wages.
Exactly which childcare workers they are isnot yet known.
Was the policy costed for 100,000, 140,000 or195,000 workers?
Until recently, we thought Mr Shorten wasrefusing to answer.
It’s now clear that he simply does not knowand is making it up as he goes.
And if Bill Shorten can’t explain his policieshe can’t be trusted to run the economy, let alone the country. And hecertainly should not be given an opportunity to siphon off taxpayer dollars tomake unilateral payments to workers represented by his favourite unions, aheadof other similarly paid workers.
By the way, what role did United Voice play indeveloping this astonishing piece of public policy? Is it true Labor hasreceived $12 million from United Voice over the past eight years?
