41/52: The Twelve Zero Heroes
Updated: Oct 8, 2020
This is a once-in-a-century budget that has one real goal - saving and creating jobs. Behind that goal sit some real heroes.
The Commonwealth Government is going to borrow (and spend) eye-watering amounts of money and keep doing it until the unemployment rate is below 6%. This will take the National debt beyond the 1 trillion dollar mark for the first time in Australia’s history.
How big is a trillion? It’s twelve zeros. $1,000,000,000,000. Consider this: if you were to celebrate your 1 billionth second on this earth, you would be approximately 31.7 years old. If you were to celebrate your 1 trillionth second it would take around 31,700 years. The point is, it’s a big number (literally 1000 x one billion)!
So is it worth it? Absolutely yes. The alternative, not to spend, is really an unthinkable prospect for the Government and would ultimately lead to the collapse of our economy and potentially many more deaths through poverty, homelessness and mental illness than Covid-19 is likely to cause. A small, but important silver lining, this debt is being created at a time when interest rates are at record lows. Amazingly, Australia is forecast to pay less interest on our borrowings in 2023 ($17.3B) than we did in 2019 ($19B).
So while the Government spends across health, manufacturing, tax cuts, education, energy, infrastructure and other areas including training, the real measure of success will be the growth in jobs. And it's here that we meet our heroes.
The job creators and employers are the real heroes in this economic fight. I’ve run a business and I’ve employed people and it’s not easy. To create something from nothing that grows and sustains multiple families is a beautiful thing. Small businesses account for 44% of the Australian workforce. Mums, Dads and everyday people all having a go.
If you’re an employer, whether it be small or large, every job your business creates is critical to the strength of the overall economy and offers crucial support to the families who work with you. Take advantage of every aspect of this Government's big spend knowing your risks, entrepreneurship and ability to create jobs will help keep this country such an amazing place to live.
Employers, you are the 'Twelve Zero Heroes' of 2020.