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Australian Government's Fiscal Policy

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Evaluate the effectiveness of the current government’s fiscal stance in achieving sustained levels of economic growth in the economy.

The government’s fiscal stance has been effective in achieving sustained levels of economic growth in the economy through countering the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and remaining globally competitive. The fiscal policy is a macroeconomic policy that influences resource allocation, redistributes income and plays an essential counter cyclic role to the business cycle through government spending, taxation and the budget outcome. This is achieved through manipulating government expenditure and tax collection in the Commonwealth Government’s annual budget which alters the level of economic activity …show more content…
The Australian economy is expected to grow by a solid 2¾% in 2017‒18 and growth is forecast to rise further to 3% in 2018‒19 and 2019‒20. The Australian government has continued to stimulate economic growth through advocating consumption in the form of tax relief to lower and middle income earners which will benefit over 10 million Australians with them receiving up to $530 a year for 2018-19 ‘Budget 2018: Winners & Losers’ (ABC News, May 2018). However income tax cuts for low-middle income earners in the next 2 years should boost household consumption which has subdued recently, however once the cuts flow through to high income earners in 5-6yrs it could significantly worsen income inequality. Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed on average over the past year more than 1,000 jobs were created every day, with the growth in employment broad‒based across regions and industries. The Youth Jobs Path Programme 2016-17 was allocated $725 million for intensive pre-employment skills training to equip the workforce with appropriate skills and encourage full employment of labour resources. As a result, there is a forecasted modest employment growth of 1.5% 2017-8 and stable unemployment rate of …show more content…
6 new drugs will be available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to treat life-threatening conditions including a number of cancers, HIV and multiple sclerosis through allocating $1.4 billion funding over four years. This assists the trajectory of 16 consecutive months of net job creation to January 2018. the longest positive run since official records began. Longevity is encouraged through new online skills and health check-ups for people aged 45-65 including breast cancer. There has been an increase in the Medicare Levy on taxpayers from 2% to 2.5% in the 2017-18 Budget which was part of a funding package for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) by 2019-20 to improve the care for people with disabilities. Its expected cost is $21 billion in its first full year of operation & around ½ of the cost will be met by the Commonwealth

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