LNP hypocrisy exposed
In the recent sittings of State Parliament we again saw the LNP talking down Queensland, taking the lazy way out by cherry-picking statistics, and continuing its ongoing campaign of negativity instead of presenting its own economic policies and plan.
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For example, even though the National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey has ranked Queensland top or near the top on business confidence for more than a year.
Yet all the LNP can do is make false claims of how the survey shows us doing badly.
The hypocrisy of the LNP and Tim Nicholls was exposed when Prime Minister Turnbull quoted the NAB index back in February and said “business confidence is strongest in Queensland”.
The Prime Minister was correct, yet even then Tim Nicholls was citing the same survey to talk down Queensland.
Tim Nicholls also attacks the state government on figures showing our Gross State Product growing by 3.2% in 2015-16.
He says it’s not good enough, even though in the Newman-Nicholls Government he managed to deliver growth of only 0.8% in 2014-15.
Our economic plan lifts growth to four times the figure Tim Nicholls achieved, but somehow he says it’s bad news.
It’s the same with the state’s unemployment rate.
As Treasurer, Tim Nicholls took the rate to 6.7% on a trend basis for four months in late 2014 while our economic plan has seen it shrink to 6.1% in September.
Our economic plan has created a net 40,400 jobs in just over 18 months compared with only 26,900 over the three years he was Treasurer.
Tim Nicholls tries to claim the LNP was better at managing the economy despite the facts proving that under Labor’s economic plan growth is up; net job numbers are up; and our unemployment rate is down.
By contrast the LNP has no policies and no plan — just lazy negativity, cherry-picking, and a desire for a return to job cuts, frontline service cuts, and asset sales.
Curtis Pitt
Treasurer of Queensland
Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
Minister for Sport
Watch for everyday sexism
Understandably, women and girls may be feeling a bit disheartened across Australia as 2016 draws to a close.
Hillary Clinton’s shock defeat by Donald Trump in the USA presidential election hurt for many of us.
It was also a shock reminder of the misogynistic behaviour our first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, was subjected to when she held Australia’s top job.
Women face everyday sexism every day. In Australia, research by Plan International revealed that just eight per cent of girls and young women feel they’re always treated equally to boys.
Only 14 per cent say they always receive the same opportunities to succeed as boys.
Following our event on how to tackle everyday sexism, participants including government representatives, researchers, journalists and the online community outlined strategies we can all adopt, both men and women, to fight gender inequality:
Check your language, don’t say “you run like a girl”. Instead of telling girls they look beautiful, tell them they’re strong.
Call out everyday sexism, and stop laughing at sexist remarks.
Check your unconscious bias, there’s no such thing as men’s work or women’s work, boys or girls chores.
Value women for their personalities and intelligence, not just their looks. Celebrate women leaders, and encourage girls to dream big. Lead by example as children mirror our behaviour, it’s our responsibility to ensure their generation leaves no glass ceilings intact.
Susanne Legena,
Deputy CEO, Plan International Australia
