Barnaby Joyce has slammed the government’s stimulus packages and said Australia should have paid more attention to his early warnings about the dangers of the coronavirus.

The former National Party leader took to social media on Tuesday to make public his critique of the Federal Government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Mr Joyce said he was labelled a drama merchant’ and ‘crazy’ when he first went public with his coronoavirus concerns in February.

‘Here is my egotistical self affirmation; I was right,’ he wrote. 

 Mr Joyce said the amount of government spending to cushion the short-term economic blow caused by the coronavirus lockdown was irresponsible.

‘I’m not sure anyone really knows how we will repay all this stimulus money considering the final Commonwealth debt will be in the vicinity of a trillion dollars,’ he wrote.

Barnaby Joyce (pictured) has slammed the government’s stimulus packages saying it will put the country into a trillion dollars worth of debt which will cause the economy ‘years of pain’ 

‘A trillion dollars, that is a thousand by a thousand by a million dollars. 

‘I hear the noble minds say that money we owe someone else is not a problem but I – as an accountant and so by bitter experience – disagree.’

The government has spent over $320 billion in recent weeks in its attempt to shield the economy from the worst impacts of COVID-19. 

Including funding to keep workers employed, to improve unemployment benefits and provide free child care. 

‘The latest COVID -19 stimulus package to keep six million employees employed cost $130 billion dollars and that is merely one part of the bill,’ Mr Joyce wrote. 

He wrote money must be repaid or you ‘enter the books of others as a bad debt’ which in turn he said weaken the value of the dollar. 

‘If you print money then you get to a point you can wipe your bottom with it,’ he wrote. 

He said while the world faced an unprecedented pandemic the economic recovery would be hampered without the correct actions being taken by government. 

‘After the pandemic has passed, the budgetary blow will remain as far as our global political eyes can see,’ Mr Joyce wrote. 

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 6,394

New South Wales: 2,870

Victoria: 1,291

Queensland: 998

South Australia: 431

Western Australia: 523

Australian Capital Territory: 103

Tasmania: 150

Northern Territory: 28

TOTAL CASES:  6,394

RECOVERED: 3,499

DEAD: 61

‘The question that must be debated is whether the short-term effect justifies the long-term pain. 

‘I imagine that is a question for future historians and economists. My fear is that the probabilities are strongly on the down side.’

 He finished off his post by saying an eye needed to be set toward the economic recovery from the pandemic or risk pain ‘for years to come’ 

‘Money for your roads, pensions, health, environment, defence, mobile telephone towers – all the things you ask from government will be incredibly restricted,’ he wrote.

‘And we must as rational adults accept the future restrictions that will inevitably follow the current bipartisan stimulus package.’

Last week the global credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s lowered Australia’s outlook from stable to negative as a result of the huge government borrowing,  prolonged lockdown and business closures, posing a one-in-three chance of the nation losing its prized top-tier, AAA rating in the next two years.

‘The negative outlook reflects our view that Australia faces fiscal and economic risks that are tilted toward the downside,’ the agency said on Wednesday.

While it has affirmed the nation’s AAA rating, it warned it could be cut in the next two years if the COVID-19 outbreak causes more economic damage than expected.

The government has spent over $320 billion in recent weeks in its attempt to shield the economy from the worst impacts of COVID-19 including payments to those put out of work (pictured)

The government has spent over $320 billion in recent weeks in its attempt to shield the economy from the worst impacts of COVID-19 including payments to those put out of work (pictured)

The government has spent over $320 billion in recent weeks in its attempt to shield the economy from the worst impacts of COVID-19 including payments to those put out of work (pictured)

A credit rating downgrade would not only be a hit to confidence, it could result in higher borrowing costs when companies, banks and government entities seek funding abroad.

Mr Joyce’s post comes just days after the Labor Party urged the Federal Government not to lift stimulus measures too soon. 

Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth warned against setting any arbitrary time frames for withdrawing support.

‘We’ve got to see where the world is in six months time, in a year’s time,’ she told ABC television.

‘If they do it too quickly, if they do not closely calibrate it, what we could have is prolonged economic downturn, which will not be good.’

As of Tuesday morning Australia had recorded 6,392 cases of COVID-19, 3,499 recovered and 61 deaths.  

As of Tuesday morning Australia had recorded 6,392 cases of COVID-19, 3,499 recovered and 61 deaths

As of Tuesday morning Australia had recorded 6,392 cases of COVID-19, 3,499 recovered and 61 deaths

As of Tuesday morning Australia had recorded 6,392 cases of COVID-19, 3,499 recovered and 61 deaths

 

 

 

 

 

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