Labor accused of ‘mocking Australians’ with its tax cuts opposition strategy
It likes some of the tax cuts plan but not all, has its own approach then backed the Government, but can’t say what it’ll do now. It’s all a mess for Labor.
National
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The Opposition is in a lose-lose battle over the Government’s tax cuts plan, all but conceding it will support the legislation despite mounting an attack of it.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last night introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to push through an immediate tax cut for low and middle-income workers, as well as a broader offset for more people later on and a long-term overhaul of the marginal tax rate.
Labor attempted an amendment, which would bring forward the second tax cut and completely scrap stage three of the Coalition’s plan.
The move failed and the bill passed. It will now head to the Senate tomorrow, where it’s also expected to succeed with the help of the crossbench.
The Opposition’s increasingly confusing tactics this week have raised the ire of the government, which accuses Labor of holding up much-needed economic stimulus and of playing games.
Last night, Labor tried to change the name of the Government's bill from Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Relief so Working Australians Keep More of Their Money) to its own version, Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Relief So Working Australians Keep More of Their Money But Not For a Really Long Time).
Mr Frydenberg reacted angrily, declaring that he would not “join the Labor Party in mocking Australians”.
The unexpected re-election of Scott Morrison’s Government delivered it a mandate to implement all three stages of the plan, he said.
“We won’t join the Labor Party in making light of the fact that hardworking Australians are counting on this parliament to pass our tax package in full.
“We oppose these amendments, these hastily cobbled together amendments, to create for the Labor Party some veneer of credibility.”
On Monday, Labor said it would not compromise on its proposed amendments and insisted Stage Two should be brought forward now and Stage Three dumped.
But yesterday, on the first sitting day of the new parliament, before the amendments were introduced and defeated, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the bill would be allowed through the Lower House to the Senate.
Defending the confusing strategy on ABC Radio in Melbourne today, Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus could not say whether Labor would support the bill in the Senate if it had the numbers.
“We are going to continue to consider our position,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“It depends on how the debate goes in the Senate, it depends on whether we can get our amendments up in the Senate, but we are pursuing the amendments that we tried in the House yesterday, we are going to pursue them in the Senate when the Senate deals with this on Thursday.”
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Speaking to ABC Radio National today, Mr Chalmers denied Labor is delaying the first cash offset, which could see millions of Australians receive $1080 as early as next week.
“Absolutely not. With our amendments in the House last night, we’re all about getting more money into more workers’ hands sooner so that we can stimulate an economy that you have rightly described as disturbingly weak,” he said.
“We had the Reserve Bank Governor yesterday and the Reserve Bank Board cut interest rates to one per cent — record lows — a third of what they were during the Global Financial Crisis. The Reserve Bank is crying out for help on the economy.”
Given his stance, Mr Chalmers was asked whether not backing the government’s package was then damaging the economy.
“Well, we’re seeking to improve the package … the first way is to get a bigger boost to the economy which desperately needs it right now. And (the second is by) proposing to bring forward part of Stage Two of the tax cuts.”
Labor opposed Stage Two during the election campaign but he said the position has now shifted due to the “deterioration of the economy”.
In light of the worrying economic forecast, Mr Chalmers called on the government to bring forward infrastructure spending as a way of providing further stimulus. Although, he conceded he doesn’t expect that to happen.
When asked why, Mr Chalmers said: “Because they’re always looking for a fight.”
Looking for a fight instead of a bipartisan approach to economic urgency is precisely what Labor is now being accused of.
Labor finds itself needing to oppose, as is its function, without earning the potentially fatal legacy of opposing efforts to give Australians more cash when they need it most.
Outside parliament this morning, Mr Chalmers made this clear in an exchange with journalists, detailed below, that summarises the impossible position the Opposition has found itself in.
JOURNALIST: Are you now in a position, Shadow Treasurer, that if the crossbench winds up supporting the Government, you will wind up supporting this package in full?
CHALMERS: What we’ve said is we’ll put all of our effort into our amendments. There’s still discussions to be had in the Senate. We’ll consider our other options after that.
JOURNALIST: Do you plan on holding another Shadow Cabinet or caucus meeting between now and the Senate vote?
CHALMERS: Well, our internal decision-making processes are a matter for us. We’ll do what we can to involve colleagues in that discussion. But as we’ve said ever since Monday’s meetings, the Shadow cabinet and the caucus agreed when they saw the legislation before us that our intention was to pursue the amendments that we moved in the House last night and that we’ll move in the Senate tomorrow. What those amendments are about is getting more workers a tax cut sooner, boosting the economy which desperately needs it, and not saddling the Budget with $95 billion in unfunded tax cuts when the Government doesn’t know what the Budget or the economy will look like.
JOURNALIST: When you say you have to consider your other options after that, what are your other options?
CHALMERS: It depends how the Senate debate unfolds. It’s clear to everyone here that at some point if our amendments fail, we’ll have to make another decision. And we’ve said that we’ll make that at that point.
JOURNALIST: So you’ll make a similar decision what you made in the House then?
CHALMERS: I’m not prepared to pre-empt that.
JOURNALIST: But would it not, the optics of it, if you don’t vote the same way you do in the House that you do in the Senate, would that they not show that there is an uncertainty in your own position on this?
CHALMERS: I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of a decision we haven’t taken yet. Thanks very much.
Originally published as Labor accused of ‘mocking Australians’ with its tax cuts opposition strategy
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