Party Games: ‘If you don’t understand it, don’t vote for it and if you do understand it, you’d never vote for it’

THE best killer line from a prime ministerial aspirant in the modern era was from Paul Keating in 1993 when he was taking part John Hewson’s manifesto for radical change, Fightback!

Opposition leader John Hewson came unstuck trying to explain the GST’s effect on a birthday cake to Channel Nine’s A Current Affair host Mike Willesee. “I need to know exactly what type of cake,” Hewson said. It was effectively end of his political career.

THE best killer line from a prime ministerial aspirant in the modern era was from Paul Keating in 1993 when he was taking part John Hewson’s manifesto for radical change, Fightback!

“If you don’t understand it, don’t vote for it and if you do understand it, you’d never vote for it,” said Keating, provoking furious nodding in lounge rooms around the country.

This was after Hewson was caught out on Channel Nine’s A Current Affair unable to explain how the goods and services tax would apply to a birthday cake.

It’s worth recalling it in some detail.

Mike Willesee simply wanted to know if a birthday cake from a cake shop would cost more or less under Hewson’s policy.

“Well, it will depend whether cakes today in that shop are subject to sales tax, or they’re not … let’s assume that they don’t have a sales tax on them,” began Hewson.

“Then that birthday cake is going to be sales tax free. Then of course you wouldn’t pay — it would be exempt, would, sorry — there would be no GST on it under our system.

“If it was one with a sales tax today it would attract the GST, and then the difference would be the difference between the two taxes whatever the sales tax rate is on birthday cakes, how it’s decorated, because there will be sales tax perhaps on some of the decorations as well, and then of course the price — the price will reflect that accordingly.”

PM Paul Keating on TV show ‘Sixty (60) Minutes’ during debate with Opposition Leader John Hewson before 1993 Federal election. Picture: Channel Nine

The attempted closing point was that “the average Australian will have more money in their pocket”.

At this point every Australian said “huh?”.

This week the Coalition had a birthday cake moment. Julie Bishop, the second most senior Liberal, couldn’t answer a query about a key feature of the superannuation changes in the Budget.

It went like following a Mitchell question if she was aware of the transition to retirement scheme to which she said yes.

“How does it work?” asks Mitchell.

“Well, Neil, this is obviously a ‘gotcha’ moment … it’s not my portfolio.”

Mitchell said neither Bishop nor another Cabinet minister Josh Frydenberg understood or could explain transition to retirement changes which hit “average people”.

Bishop rejected the commentary but Keating’s advice from 1993 was ringing loudly.

Don’t miss Dennis Atkins and Malcolm Farr’s election podcast, Two Grumpy Hacks, available for free on iTunes and Soundcloud.

Originally published as Party Games: ‘If you don’t understand it, don’t vote for it and if you do understand it, you’d never vote for it’