ALP leader Anthony Albanese ticked off by Coalition package
Labor leader Anthony Albanese says workers earning up to $200,000 are not “the top end of town” — but would not say whether he’ll back the Morrison government’s full $158 billion tax cut package.
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Labor leader Anthony Albanese says workers earning up to $200,000 are not “the top end of town” — but would not say whether he’ll back the Morrison government’s full $158 billion tax cut package.
Speaking to The Telegraph’s national political editor Sharri Markson on Sky News on Friday, Mr Albanese argued that more voters chose Labor than Liberal at the last election, and the Morrison government win did not necessarily mean “giving a tick” to its agenda.
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The ALP had a primary vote of 33.3 per cent. The Coalition won with 41.4 per cent.
Pressure has been mounting on the Opposition Leader to pass the tax cut legislation in full, following the voters’ rejection of the ALP’s high-taxing policy agenda.
An ALP frontbench meeting on Monday will consider the issue but Mr Albanese said he won’t be making a decision early. Asked if he accepted the government had a mandate to pass its promised tax cuts, Mr Albanese said he accepted the government had a mandate for the first stage of cuts, affecting lower-income workers, which will come into effect on July 1 and were supported by Labor.
“But of course many Australians voted for us at the election as well,” Mr Albanese said. “More people voted Labor than voted Liberal at the election by the way. We got the largest vote of any political party. The truth is many Australians put their faith in us and in our agenda. Now, we lost the election, so we need to reassess those issues.”
During the campaign, former Labor leader Bill Shorten defended his policy to repeal the Morrison government’s tax cuts for those earning more than $180,000 by saying they were the “top end of town”.
Mr Albanese rejected that description last night and said “everyone” deserves tax cuts.
“You’d want taxes to be as low as possible but within the context you can afford to pay for the services you need to provide,” he said. “I don’t regard someone earning $200,000 a year as being from the top end of town, I regard many people … earning a good living … a good thing.”
The Morrison government needs four of six crossbench senators to support the tax package if it is opposed by Labor and the Greens. Right-wing Labor MP Peter Khalil said the ALP shouldn’t block tax cuts for working middle- class Australians.
Stage three of the cuts take effect in 2024-2025, but Mr Albanese said it was a “triumph of hope over economic reality” to plan for the reforms to kickstart the economy so far down the track. “We’ll have a big election between now and then and it’s one which I’m hoping will have a different outcome,” Mr Albanese said. “Certainly we need an injection … not just the tax cuts, but we are also calling for an increase in the infrastructure investment.”
Originally published as ALP leader Anthony Albanese ticked off by Coalition package
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