Bill Shorten struggles to explain superannuation and climate change policies on campaign trail
Bill Shorten had another sloppy day on the campaign trail on Wednesday as he struggled to explain Labor’s superannuation and climate change policies; Labor’s negative gearing winners and losers; Facebook’s fake news fail; and, StuffUp! for GetUp! ELECTION WRAP
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Bill Shorten had another sloppy day on the campaign trail on Wednesday as he struggled to explain Labor’s superannuation and climate change policies, raising questions about whether he was wilting under pressure.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused Mr Shorten of lying to voters after the Opposition Leader claimed he had no plans to change the superannuation system.
For consecutive days, Mr Shorten also failed to answer a simple question about the cost of his 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
And dozens of pages of policy detail about controversial negative gearing changes were also suddenly yanked from the ALP’s website, after concerns were raised about the costings used.
Then overnight, another section on superannuation also disappeared.
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Mr Shorten’s colleagues have remarked privately that he has looked under pressure in his two most recent press conferences, and are hoping the party can reset after the weekend and focus on other issues.
It is understood Labor will look to complement its health policies — which Mr Shorten has made the focus of his first week — with different themes, including attacks on the government. This will include a scare campaign on the spending cuts Labor say will be needed to pay for the Coalition’s tax plan.
MIRANDA DEVINE: IS SHORTEN WILTING UNDER PRESSURE?
Mr Shorten conceded he “should have picked the words better” when asked about Labor’s superannuation plans, saying that he misheard the question from a journalist on Tuesday.
More than one million Australians face higher taxes on their super under Labor’s plans for tighter caps on contributions and bigger contributions to tax from workers on higher incomes. This would be a $34 billion hit to Aussies over the next decade.
“I thought I was being asked about have we had any unannounced changes to superannuation,” Mr Shorten said.
“Obviously we have changes which we outlined three years ago, so I should have picked the words better, no question.
“We have no changes other than what we outlined previously.”
Mr Shorten again fielded questions about Labor’s emissions reduction target of 45 per cent, after he had a fiery exchange with a journalist the previous day when he refused to outline the cost of the policy.
The Labor leader claimed there would be no economic cost, but stopped short of guaranteeing whether detailed costings would be released before the election.
He denied Labor’s carbon offsets — a key plank of the party’s policy to reach the target — would wipe $472 billion from the economy. “We will see across the 2020s, as a result of our energy policies and climate policies, GDP growth of about 23 per cent,” Mr Shorten said.
Mr Morrison on Wednesday said his rival had never faced the level of pressure and scrutiny he’s now under — not even during 2016’s election campaign.
“He thought he’d get away with it because that’s what he used to do, he thought he could just say this and get away with it. It’s show and tell time, Bill. It’s the election.”
PROPERTY PUZZLE AS NEGATIVE GEARING UNCERTAINTY HIT HOMES
Labor’s plans for tougher investment taxes have created huge doubt about the investment outlook for NSW property owners and renters, with one high-profile real estate agent warning Bill Shorten’s negative gearing policy could kill “the goose that has laid millions of golden eggs”.
It is not just NSW’s 700,000 landlords who face a looming investment dilemma, but also would-be real estate investors, and even any mum and dads who are currently thinking of selling their own home.
They are all caught up in the varied policy outcomes that could follow the federal election should Labor win.
Experts are divided on just who will be the winners and losers, and when it all will impact, as Bill Shorten reaffirms his plans to limit negative gearing tax deductions to newly built housing, and cut capital gains tax reductions.
Real estate veteran John McGrath said the negative gearing policy could see “the killing of the goose that has laid millions of golden eggs for everyday Australians.”
He also said he foresees fewer investors — meaning less rental supply and likely rent hikes.
The big question in 2019 is whether investors should buy, sell or do nothing before Mr Shorten’s proposed tax changes start on January 1, 2020. Or could further price falls emerge next year, as some forecasters expect if Labor wins the election?
“Any owner of a property should conclude that these changes, while good for people selling new properties, they are bad if you are selling old ones,” financial commentator Peter Switzer said this week.
“I think that there will be a rush for property after the election if Bill Shorten wins. The impact of these rule changes could mean Bill is good for house prices until January 1 but after that prices could fall off a cliff.”
If Labor wins the May election, it has set January 1, 2020, as the start date for its property policies: a curb on negative gearing (which allows investors to claim expenses including interest payments on investment properties against their incomes) and a halving of the capital gains tax break from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.
The policy will be “grandfathered”, allowing existing investors to retain the existing tax provisions for their properties.
Under Labor’s plan, negative gearing will be permitted on new housing, to stimulate the residential construction sector and improve affordability for first home buyers.
There were signs of some investor buying earlier this year, but most have now hung back after Labor announced its negative gearing policy will take effect January 1, 2020, not the election date.
For a long-term investor, it makes tax sense to buy before January 1 because Labor’s capital gains tax change will have a big impact in the decades to come.
A $500,000 purchase that sells in 2030 for $1 million will see $250,000 being added to the investor’s taxable income.
Under Labor’s plan that increases to $375,000 — a potential extra $60,000 in tax.
A survey by Washington Brown depreciation company boss Tyron Hyde found 70 per cent of nearly 3000 investors would not purchase a second-hand property next year if they could no longer claim negative gearing benefits.
— Jonathan Chancellor
FACEBOOK FAKERY CAN STAY ONLINE
Facebook has been lashed over its approach to the Australian federal election after the company revealed it would hire fact-checkers but wouldn’t delete the false news they identified.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal the social media giant’s fact-checking measures to “safeguard” the election did not start until days after the campaign began.
“AFP began its fact-checking operations in Australia this week,” Facebook’s fact-checking partner Agence France-Presse (AFP) told News Corp.
AFP’s Asia-Pacific Fact-Check editor Karl Malakunas said the company would publish its initial Australian fact-checks “in the coming days” on its website.
Facebook refused to disclose how many posts or stories had so far been rated “false” by AFP’s fact-checkers but confirmed it would not remove the posts.
The tech giant will instead merely “demote” inaccurate or deliberately misleading news articles and pictures on its platform, potentially allowing its Australian audience to be tricked by political propaganda.
“Once a story is rated as false, we show it lower in News Feed, reducing its future views by more than 80 per cent on average,” Facebook policy director Mia Garlick said when the social media company confirmed this month that it would launch fact-checking in Australia.
— Claire Bickers
THE HIDDEN COST OF PAIN
The Breast Cancer Network of Australia says one of the most painful and expensive cancer problems has been ignored by both sides of politics.
About one in five women with breast cancer develop chronic ongoing pain from lymphoedema — swelling of the arms as a result of surgery that removes lymph nodes — but government subsidies for aids and physiotherapy are inadequate, they say.
The BCNA says the number of appointments with lymphoedema specialists covered by Medicare needs to be doubled and specialist lymphoedema clinics need to be established in major centres.
STUFFUP! AS CAMPAIGNER GETS IT WRONG
GetUp! boss Paul Oosting has been forced to amend a voting guide for volunteers after a trainwreck radio interview in which he falsely suggested Josh Frydenberg was “part of the coup” against Malcolm Turnbull.
The secret voting guide dossier, which was leaked to reporters yesterday, showed GetUp! was telling volunteers to convince voters in the seat of Kooyong that Mr Frydenberg helped oust Mr Turnbull.
Mr Oosting spoke to ABC radio presenter Jon Faine yesterday to defend the dossier’s accuracy but conversation turned sour after he made several incorrect statements
The GetUp! boss argued that Mr Frydenberg could not have become “the Deputy Prime Minister by accident”, before Mr Faine explained Mr Frydenberg had never held such a position.
“Apologies, he’s the finance minister,” Mr Oosting replied, before Mr Faine corrected him.
Within a few hours GetUp! released a statement confirming it had removed all references to the coup from its volunteer manual.
— Jack Houghton
TWEET ATTACKING MPS FOR TAXPAYER-FUNDED TRAVEL DELETED
Nationals MP George Christensen has deleted a tweet he sent from the Philippines attacking MPs for using taxpayer-funded travel.
News Corp yesterday revealed the jetsetting MP claimed more than $3000 in taxpayer-funded domestic flights linking up with his frequent travel to the Philippines.
In a January 2017 tweet, Mr Christensen attacked MPs exploiting travel perks.
“All of these MPs billing family holidays on taxpayers. Maybe axe MPs’ family travel or limit to Canberra. What other job provides this perk?” Mr Christensen tweeted.
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