Labor leader Anthony Albanese continues to stand between voters and his own divided party on tax cuts
Anthony Albanese will lead his MPs to Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday standing between the voters who backed the government’s tax cuts and his own, divided party as the ALP begins the first sitting of parliament since its election drubbing.
NSW
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Labor will start the first sitting of parliament since its election drubbing by threatening to withhold support for the government’s full suite of tax cuts put to the Australian people at the May 18 poll.
Labor has left the door open to offer their support later but Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last night accused new leader Anthony Albanese of “learning nothing” from the election and “hearing nothing” on his recent listening tour.
“The Australian people voted in favour of the Coalition’s tax cuts,” Mr Frydenberg said. “This was Anthony Albanese’s first test and he failed badly.”
Labor’s caucus is deeply divided over the party’s handling of the full package of $158 billion in tax cuts.
The party is trying to wedge the government by demanding it split the tax cut bill in order to deliver stage two sooner.
Mr Albanese has said he wants to hold off on legislating the third tranche of cuts because the economy is soft.
He instead wants to bring stage two of the plan forward so it is delivered this week, giving workers earning between $90,000 to $120,000 a tax cut of $1350 this month.
Stage three would lower the tax rate from 32.5 per cent to 30 per cent for Australians who are earning between $45,000 and $200,000 from 2024.
The party will have this fight in the Senate but crucially Mr Albanese has not said what Labor will do if they fail, therefore leaving himself wiggle room to support stage three.
Several senior sources believe that Mr Albanese will not block stage three if it comes down to Labor’s vote at the final hurdle, but is instead grandstanding and withholding support in the process.
He has been lobbied by members of his own caucus — including NSW MP Joel Fitzgibbon — who say the party cannot be seen to stand between Australians and a tax cut.
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Mr Albanese on Monday said “economic circumstances have changed since May 18”, and that there was an “arrogance” about the government in “thinking they can do whatever they want”.
“Well they can’t,” he told Sky News.
“We are about getting stage one through, stage two we support but we believe it should be brought forward because the economy needs it. The idea that you would hold up tax cuts today in return for something that might happen in 2025 is quite frankly an economically irresponsible decision.”
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has refused to split the bill.
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Monday Shadow Cabinet would reconsider its position if its bid to split the bill failed.
Labor MPs hope this protects the party from the government’s attack line that it is trying to stand between the people and a tax cut.
“We’re going to put all of our effort into our amendments,” Mr Chalmers said.
“If those amendments are unsuccessful, then we will consider our options at that point.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison last night told the ABC that Labor’s offer was not what the Australian people voted for.
“They voted for the personal income tax plan that we set out in the Budget, which was a responsible plan that dealt with the immediate requirement to ensure that we put more money back in people’s pockets — money they earned, keeping more of what they earned — and moving to the structural reform in a way, and on a timetable, that was supportive of our Budget strategy.”
Both sides of politics are frantically negotiating with the Senate crossbench for support.
Senator Cormann has been holding the negotiations for the government.
ALBANESE ORDERS A STOP TO THE LEAKS
Anthony Albanese has told his new caucus in no uncertain terms that leaks must stop and members should stick to the strategies agreed upon.
In a critical caucus meeting before parliament resumes today, the new Labor leader repeated comments he’d already made to his front benchers.
One source said Mr Albanese gave the sermon calmly to the full meeting, but that most of the leaks had come from shadow cabinet.
Another source said Mr Albanese had described the leaking as “unhelpful” and urged caucus members — of which there are 94 — to stick to strategies agreed upon.
The caucus has been deeply divided over tax cuts and Labor’s strategy dealing with the full package.
In part, this division has precipitated these leaks.
Another leak was that former leader Bill Shorten phoned into last week’s shadow cabinet meeting while on holiday from Bali.
And then a report emerged that last week’s meeting had also heard a push by Mr Albanese to streamline “LGBTIQ” references to gay rights.
It comes as NSW Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon last week called for MPs to have more freedom, particularly in their electorates to express ideas that are at odds with party policies.
Asked about Mr Albanese’s comments on leaking on Monday in an interview with the ABC, Mr Fitzgibbon replied that: “Of course there has been some leaking. That’s just a matter of fact.
“When you get leaks from the most senior ranks in the party that is unhelpful for the party and its prospects.
“Like Anthony, I discourage people from leaking and I encourage people to back the collective decision.
“That’s the best way forward and of course unity gives us the best prospects of success at the next election.”
Mr Fitzgibbon said the party was a “united team” and will be a “very powerful force at the next federal election”.
— Anna Caldwell
CLOWNS TO THE LEFT, JOKERS TO THE RIGHT, VOTERS IN THE MIDDLE
COMMENT by Anna Caldwell
How quickly Labor seems to have forgotten the election.
In NSW seats, where the party of the worker racked up swing after swing to the government in its prime heartland areas like Western Sydney, the economy and finances polled as a top-of-mind issue for voters. And yet today, when Parliament resumes, Labor is trying to grandstand as the caretakers of the economy.
How can we forget that the people rejected Labor’s hopes to run Australia’s economic agenda, just as they rejected Bill Shorten’s class warfare ethos.
Senior sources tell me they think Anthony Albanese may back the cuts at the last minute but wants to try to amend them first and this is why Jim Chalmers left the door open on Monday for the party to reconsider its position if their initial bid fails.
Albanese and Chalmers are playing a clearly strategic game by saying they want to bring stage two of tax relief forward while withholding support for stage three. The sweetener of giving the people stage two sooner is a bid to stop the criticism that they are standing between voters and a tax cut.
But as long as they fail to commit to stage three, their pitch has a hard trot at passing the pub test.
Tasmanian firebrand Jacqui Lambie, who was on Monday still undecided, could hold the key.
The government has the support of South Australian senator Cory Bernardi and will likely have the backing of two Centre Alliance senators, who are exchanging their support for government action on gas prices, while Pauline Hanson has indicated she will not support the government. The government needs four votes without Labor.
Originally published as Labor leader Anthony Albanese continues to stand between voters and his own divided party on tax cuts
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